That Egg Thing

I'm not really sure what it's called actually. Some call it egg custard, some creme caramel, some flan, some pudding. I have a bastardised name for it: "dan dan" (rhymes with 'fun'), which in actual cantonese is "steamed egg" (炖蛋).

It looks good, just that I'm not liking the pores at the sides...

I absolutely love this thing. It brings back memories of my mom bringing me to this corner coffee shop some where in the old town, after school, and I'll be enjoying this in my school uniform. And it always comes with a glass of cold water.

Of late, The Fuzzball has been itching to attempt dessert making (for some unknown reason) and we've been volleying all sorts of ideas like bread pudding with rum. And then this sudden childhood treat came to mind and I have been stuck ever since. So I thought I'd experiment with it today (the last I attempted this was several years ago).

I sort of got the recipe from HERE. I knew the ingredients, I just didnt dare to wing it when it comes to volume. (By the way, I halfed the recipe, skiffed off the vanilla, and put in a little not enough sugar.)

Ingredients:


1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 cups milk, scalded
4 beaten eggs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:


Butter 6 custard cups. (I didn't do this. Butter in this thing seems wrong, and I didn't have custard cups so I used a tin cup instead...you know, those they make teh tarik with.)

Melt 1/4 cup of sugar in a small heavy skillet, stirring constantly, until a caramel syrup forms; pour immediately into prepared custard cups. 

Add a small amount of the hot milk to beaten eggs, stirring briskly. Add remaining milk; add 1/4 cup sugar and the vanilla; blend well. Pour mixture into custard cups. 


Set cups in a large, shallow baking pan in a 325° oven. Pour hot water into the large baking pan to a depth of about 1 inch. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Unmold into shallow dessert dishes to serve. 

Caramel custard recipe serves 6.

I made some massive changes after the egg-milk mixture. I didn't bake, instead I steamed it. Remember to cover your cup/bowl/container/whatever when it's steaming. It took roughly about 10-15 minutes, then I took it off the heat, left it to cool for a while, and then popped it into the fridge.

I also think you should ready the egg-milk mixture first, then only caramelise the sugar so that the syrup is still liquid when you pour the egg-milk mixture in (mine kinda hardened a little at the bottom of the cup). Make sure you pour slowly down the container's side so as to not create bubbles and mix up the syrup with the egg-milk mixture.

The inside looks awesome though. I iz happy.

Chill it, and enjoy! Good luck :)