Pumpkin-coconut custard

Coconut custard steamed inside a hollowed pumpkin, so the vessel is cooked with the filling.

Duck, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains duck.

Ingredients

• 1 small kabocha pumpkin, about 1.2 kg
• 5 duck eggs
• 150 g palm sugar
• 250 ml coconut cream
• 3 pandan leaves
• 0.25 teaspoon salt

Method

1. THE VESSEL IS THE RECIPE. This is the sangkhaya custard on this site steamed INSIDE a hollowed pumpkin, so the pumpkin cooks through at the same time and is eaten with it. Steamed in a bowl beside a cooked pumpkin it is two things on a plate; steamed inside, the custard takes on the pumpkin and the flesh takes on the custard.
2. A SMALL DENSE PUMPKIN, kabocha or Thai. A large watery one weeps into the custard and it never sets.
3. Cut a lid from the top and scrape the seeds and all the fibre out. Scrape the walls smooth -- loose fibre floats up through the custard and sets in it.
4. DRY THE INSIDE THOROUGHLY with paper. Water on the walls is the commonest reason the custard comes out watery at the edge.
5. Rub the palm sugar into the eggs with your fingers until completely dissolved, rather than whisking, so no air goes in.
6. Bruise the pandan, squeeze it through the coconut cream, discard it, then combine and STRAIN the mixture twice.
7. Fill the pumpkin to about 2 cm below the rim. Overfilled, it rises and spills as the pumpkin softens and slumps.
8. Stand it in a steamer on a plate -- it will leak a little however careful you are.
9. Steam over a GENTLE heat, 50 to 60 minutes, with a cloth under the lid. A hard boil curdles the custard and collapses the pumpkin before the centre sets.
10. Done when a skewer into the custard comes out clean and the pumpkin flesh gives under light pressure. Cool completely, chill, and cut into wedges through both.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Thailand · All recipes