Sangkhaya

The custard itself rather than a finished sweet, steamed in a bowl and spooned over other things.

Duck, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains duck.

Ingredients

• 6 duck eggs
• 200 g palm sugar
• 300 ml coconut cream
• 4 pandan leaves
• 0.25 teaspoon salt

Method

1. THIS IS A COMPONENT, NOT A FINISHED SWEET. Three other coconut custards on this site are set, cut and eaten as they are -- khanom thuai in cups, khanom mo kaeng baked and squared, khao niao sangkhaya over rice. This is the custard on its own, steamed in a bowl, to be spooned over sticky rice, dipped into with bread, or steamed inside a pumpkin.
2. So it is made slightly looser than any of those, and it is not expected to hold a cut edge.
3. RUB THE PALM SUGAR INTO THE EGGS WITH YOUR HANDS, which is the one technique here that matters. Palm sugar is damp and lumpy and a whisk drives air in while leaving the lumps; rubbing it between the fingers dissolves it completely without foaming.
4. Three or four minutes of rubbing, until no grain is left and the mixture is smooth and darker.
5. Bruise the pandan leaves and squeeze them repeatedly through the coconut cream, then throw them away. The scent is the whole point and heat destroys it, so never steep them warm.
6. Cream into the egg mixture, stirred not whisked.
7. STRAIN IT TWICE through a fine sieve. Any chalaza or speck of cooked egg is obvious in something this plain.
8. Into a wide shallow bowl, no deeper than 4 cm. Deeper and the outside sets while the middle is still liquid.
9. Steam over a GENTLE heat, 30 to 35 minutes, with a cloth under the lid.
10. It is done when the edge is set and the centre wobbles as one piece. Cool before using, and it firms further.

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