Thai Pumpkin Custard with Video

This steamed pumpkin recipe filled with creamy coconut custard comes from the excellent Thai cooking video website, ThaiFoodTonight.com. See the cooking video to quickly learn how to make this favorite dessert.

Ingredients:

• 1 Kabocha squash (Japanese pumpkin)
• 10 cups of water for steaming
• 4-5 eggs
• 3/4 cups coconut milk (rich Mae Ploy brand is preferred for desserts)
• 1/3 cup of coconut palm sugar
• pinch of salt
• pinch of cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract (or frozen pandanus leaf or pandanus leaf flavoring)

Preparation:

1. Cut out the pumpkin just like you would for Halloween. Cut out the top, remove all the  seeds and the stringy insides.
2. In a mixing bowl crack the eggs, add coconut milk, salt , cinnamon, vanilla and palm sugar.  Stir well until the palm sugar is blended into the mixture.
3. Pour the mixture into the pumpkin.
4. Bring water to a boil in a steamer. Then place the pumpkin and the pumpkin lid inside the steamer basket. Don’t cover the pumpkin with the lid. Set the pumpkin lid in the steaming basket off to the side so it cooks too.
5. Now place the basket onto the steamer and cover the basket with the lid. Steam for about 45 minutes.
6. When you think it's time, open the steamer and stick a fork into the custard to check if it is done.  If the fork comes out all wet and runny you need to steam it a little longer.
7. Remove the basket from the steamer and let the pumpkin cool down.
8. When you are ready to serve, take a knife and cut a wedge out of the pumpkin just as if it were a pie. The custard should be firm enough to stand on its own and not be runny.
9. Serve to your guests. They can eat the entire pumpkin - the skin and flesh of the pumpkin and the creamy custard inside.

Servings: 4

Recipe Copyright © 2006 Ernie Geefay Productions.

Getting Started Cooking Thai

To get started cooking Thai food at home you do not necessarily need any special cookware. With just a few basic tools and a pantry well-stocked with standard Thai ingredients, you can cook a quick Thai meal anytime.

Essential cookware for cooking Thai food includes: a properly sharpened cleaver or chef's knife; a medium-sized pot to cook jasmine rice; a wok or large saute or frying pan; and a small to medium-sized sauce pan or pot to make curries and soups.

In the countryside of Thailand, Thai people generally have very few utensils in the kitchen, but the diversity of the food produced is simply amazing. For authenticity and taste a mortar and pestle is irreplaceable, but if you are cooking Thai food for the first time a small blender or coffee grinder (used only for spices) will do. You may purchase various sizes of imported Thai granite stone mortar and pestles in our online Thai grocery. Next month read about what ingredients to keep on hand to cook Thai food any time.

Read more articles like this one in our Thai Cooking area.

Please see our Thai Fresh Ingredients for more details.