SHF#12: Cooking up Custard

Time flies and we're moving into the next installment of Sugar High Fridays (SHF). This round, the host, Elise of Simply Recipe have picked Cooking up Custard as the theme. Okay, initially I thought I would be having a tough time preparing something for this event as I'm pretty occupied of late. Anyway, I managed to come across a super duper easy recipe on this theme. Well as usual I did something Asian instead, Thai to be specific. It's usually available for dessert in Thai restaurants.

So what's cooking???

Tadaaa...


So what's cooking inside the pumpkin eh?? It's Pumpkin Custard, a popular Thai dessert. I was going through my recipes and chanced upon this easy peasy custard recipe. It's really so easy that I'm typing in the ingredients off my head now. Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Custard

about 1 kg whole pumpkin
6 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup coconut cream (I managed to squeezed out 3/4 cup from one grated coconut, otherwise substitute with those canned ones, pati santan in Malay)
100g brown sugar [also known as red sugar (gula merah in Malay) not the typical brown sugar for baking, adjust according to your taste]

Cut off the pumpkin top (the part with the stem) and retain it as a lid but do not cut too big an opening. Scoop out all the seeds and pulp, leaving a thick layer of flesh inside. Wash and rinse, then pat dry the inside.

Beat eggs, salt, coconut cream and sugar together with a hand whisk. As the brown/red sugar are pretty lumpy, strain and pour the mixture into the pumpkin. Cover it with the cut-out lid.

Place the pumpkin in a steamer and steam for 30 to 40 minutes or until custard is firm and pumpkin is tender. Test with a skewer, then cool and put in the refrigerator to chill overnight. Remove and cut into thick wedges and serve.

Note: I think I've over steamed the pumpkin hence the pockmarks on the custard plus the pumpkin is kinda too soft but luckily it wasn't mushy. As I was busying feeding my boiboi his lunch I did not checked the pumpkin when it reaches 30 minutes of steaming. I left it till way past 45 minutes. The top portion that looked lighter in colour is slightly harder in texture than the bottom portion.

Overall, it tasted good and even my fussy guinea pig gave it a thumb up. I brought some to my office and my colleagues gave me unbelievable looks when I passed them the sliced Pumpkin Custard. They didn't believed that I actually made it myself thinking it's a complicated recipe hahaha... they too were overwhelmed by it. One of them, a guy whom I never knew can cook promised to make one for us soon. We shall wait then...

Thanks Elise for hosting this round of SHF. Can't wait for the round up and see what the rest of the world have cooked up.

UPDATED 19th September 2005: The efficient Elise got her round up posted. 70 entries for this 1st Anniversary version!