Gingered Asian Pearl Caramel

Yummy!






I subscribe to 'just a few' cooking related magazines



















My justification is that they keep me up-to-date with industry trends and knowledge, seasonal ingredients, give me inspiration and, best of all, they're tax deductible! Obviously I am actually spending wisely and investing in my future- right?

To keep me sane and to avoid being taken over by mounds of paper,  I have a very careful system of magazine perusal that ensures I get the most from each offering.

1. Pull magazine from letter-box giggling gleefully
2. Rip off plastic coating and stare at the pretty picture on the cover
3. Put magazine face-down while I prepare cup of tea
4. Curl up in chair and read magazine from cover to cover. No skipping. I read what the editor has to say, who the contributors are, letters to the advice column, advertisements- the whole lot
5. Sigh with contentment, after another fix of gorgeous styling and innovative cooking
6. Periodically flick through magazine for next couple of days, deciding what I really want to cook and what styling tips I love
7. Rip these pages out carefully, stapling together if necessary
8. File in relevant folder/book
9. Pass slightly thinned magazine onto various friends and if they complain of missing pages promise to ask them for dinner to cook that recipe
10. Cook those lovely recipes, and hopefully blog about them thus sharing the love even more


This month, I was collating the saved recipe collection, when I realised that two of them were very, very similar. I hadn't even noticed until then, but they had both absolutely delicious to me, Coconut and Ginger Baked Tapioca Custard from Donna Hay Magazine, and Coconut Custard with Crushed Raspberry Sauce from Australian Good Food. Both recipes were an egg based baked custard containing coconut cream and lovely little pearl tapioca- sounds delicious! I liked elements from both recipes and decided in the end to go for a mash-up of the two while still adding in my own little touch here and there.

I hope you like my hybrid recipe, hopefully the best bits from all, while leaving out any undesirables and calories



















1 cup Tapioca Pearls (both)
135g grated Palm Sugar (DH, GF 1/2 Castor)
1/4 cup Water (DH)
4 Eggs (DH, GF used 3)
1 can + 1/2 cup or 525ml Coconut Cream (DH 400ml+3/4cup cream, GF 500ml)
1/4 cup finely chopped Ginger in Syrup (me) (DH 1 tab ground ginger, GF vanilla and nutmeg)
5 Cardamon Pods, bruised (me)
Pinch of Salt (me)

Syrup (DH)
135g grated Palm Sugar
1/2 cup Water
(GF used coconut crisps and raspberry sauce)





Soak the sago pearls for 20 minutes in a bowl of cold water (GF) then drain
before:

















after:



















Place the palm sugar and water in a pan, stir over heat until dissolved (DH)




















Cook the pearls in pan of boiling water for 15 (DH) to 20 (GF) minutes until translucent, then drain and rinse with cold water


















Place the  sugar syrup, eggs, coconut, ginger, cardamon and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine (DH)
(GF heated the coconut cream first, then poured it into the eggs etc.)






















Add the tapioca and mix well, making sure it doesn't clump together



















Pour into a 1.5lt (DH) or 1lt (GF) oven proof dish, then place this into a larger dish to act as a water bath to cook the custard nice and evenly and gently (both)

Pop the larger dish into the oven then pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the inner dish



















Bake for 50-60 mins at 150*C until just set (DH), 45-50mins 160*C until surface is firm to with a slight wobble (GF), or 150* for 70 mins or until you suspect the oven temp is screwy then up it to 170* for another 20 mins and custard has a lovely coloured skin on top, seems set on the sides with a bit of a wobble in the centre (me)



















Syrup (DH)

Pop sugar and water in pan and dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook for a few minutes until thickened. Cool
Drizzle over custard to serve





















Individual Tapioca Ginger Cremes (me)


Grease individual serve ramekins
Pour in a couple of tablespoons of syrup mixture to thickly coat the bottom of the dish


















Gently pour in custard mix to fill then bake in water bath for 20 mins until a firm wobble when shaken



















Cool in fridge
Place serving plate over top of ramekin
















bravely flip over, shake gently, lift ramekin off and allow syrup to drip out over lovely little pudding the way you would with a creme caramel


















Serve with extra syrup and thick coconut cream on the side if so desired







Well my Dear Readers, what do you think of the mash-up? I did follow the Donna Hay recipe more than the Australian Good Food one, but they were both so similar, and actually very like a classic Creme Caramel recipe as well.

My husband isn't much of a fan of sago but he does love a good creme caramel, so I told him I had created a Gingered Asian Pearl Caramel and he loved it! Isn't it funny how a name can alter our perceptions of a dish so easily?
















So Dear Readers, which recipe would you follow, and do you subscribe to any foodie magazines?

































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