The third installment of 深夜食堂煮婦同樂會 brings a simple yet popular dish to the menu: Japanese Egg Pudding [雞蛋布丁]. Despite the simplicity of the dish, owing to the number of steps involved I will write this week’s entry in English (and probably indefinitely from now on unless I am feeling exceptionally diligent one week!).
This seems very similar to a dessert I grew up eating at school – Creme Caramel. But as usual the “Japanese” way simplifies things a lot when compared to English/French recipes and places the emphasis (in my opinion) on the smoothness and fineness of the texture. 最緊要滑!
The caramel sauce can have varying degrees of darkness – I tend to like mine quite dark and slightly bitter so I allowed the sugar to caramelize slightly longer.
Here are the ingredients: (Makes 4 puddings)
Caramel Sauce-
4 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp hot water
Egg pudding-
2 eggs
250ml milk
5 tbsp sugar
Make the Caramel Sauce:
(1) Butter the pudding moulds lightly to ease removal later
(2) Heat the sugar and water on medium heat
(3) Watch the mixture carefully once it starts bubbling as it will turn brown and boil very quickly
(4) Control the heat and timing so achieve your desired burntness
(5) Take the pan off the heat and carefully add the hot water in parts to thin the caramel. CAUTION: the very hot caramel will spray out so face the pan away from you and wear appropriate protection
(6) Quickly pour the caramel into the moulds before it solidifies
Make the Egg Pudding:
(7) Whisk the eggs gently to mix thoroughly without creating too many bubbles
(8) Heat the milk with the sugar just until it has all dissolved. Allow to cool slightly
(9) Pour the warm mixture into the eggs whilst whisking gently
(10) Skim any bubbles and strain into a pouring jug
(11) Fill the moulds
(12) Cover the moulds with tin foil to retain moisture
(13) Heat a pan of water (about 3-4cm deep) with a towel inside and put the pudding into steam. Simmer the puddings for 18-20mins. Do not let the water boil. The towel will also help to prevent the puddings from being disturbed too much. This will help to achieve a smooth and silky texture
(14) Cool the moulds in a water bath and once cool, refrigerate until cold
(15) Remove from the fridge and slide a sharp tool around the edge of the pudding
(16) Gently knock the moulds against a cloth to loosen the pudding
(17) Serve on a plate
The puddings turned out quite smooth and silky and the sauce was also sufficiently bitter. However I think the texture can be further improved as there were still some “air-pockets” in the pudding that can be smoothed out. Perhaps it’s because the steaming heat was slightly high. Also I need to get some taller moulds, these bowls did not give the ideal shape. But all in all an easy and tasty dessert!
A special thanks for my wife in helping me capture the process! =)
Here are the efforts by the other members-
歡迎新成員, WongC9!
gywong 