As dessert in our High Heel Gourmet-inspired menu, we prepared Thai coconut rice custard. This turned out very nice, with a nice contrast between the sweet palm sugar-flavored bottom and the salty creamy coconut top. This is an original dessert that is delicious and easy to make, although finding the ingredients may be a challenge. It can be served either hot, in the bowl, or cold, extracted from the bowl. With these pretty bowls we picked up at the Asian market, that was an easy choice 😉

Thank you, Miranti, for a wonderful Thai dinner we could only prepare thanks to your wonderful blog.

The palm sugar we used apparently has a darker color than the sugar used by Miranti, as our bottom part of the custard turned out brown instead of yellow. The pandan extract did not seem to add a lot of flavor and it was listed by Miranti as optional, so you could omit that.

Ingredients

For 8 servings (1 serving = 120 ml (1/2 cup))

60 grams (1/2 cup) + 45 grams (6 Tbsp) rice flour

10 grams (1 Tbsp) mung bean flour (or tapioca starch)

35 grams (3 Tbsp) arrowroot starch (or tapioca starch)

170 grams (7/8 cup) palm sugar

500 ml (2 cups) coconut milk, separated into 150 ml coconut cream and 350 ml thin coconut milk (use only 250 ml (1 cup) of the thin coconut milk)

5 pandan leaves, optional

1 tsp salt

Preparation

The green pandan extract sold in bottles has too much toxic food coloring, so I decided to make my own pandan extract by pounding 5 pandan leaves with 120 ml (1/2 cup) of water with a pestle in a mortar…

…and then filtering to obtain about 60 ml (1/4 cup) of pandan extract.

Combine 60 grams (1/2 cup) rice flour, 10 grams (1 Tbsp) mung bean flour (or tapioca starch), and 35 grams (3 Tbsp) arrowroot starch (or tapioca starch) in a bowl.

Whisk to mix.

Add 250 ml (1 cup) thin coconut milk slowly, while whisking, to avoid lumps.

Whisk until there are no more lumps.

Add 170 grams (7/8 cup) palm sugar and whisk to mix.

Add the pandan extract, if using.

Preheat the bowls in a steamer if you intend to remove the custard from the bowls before serving.

Distribute the mixture into 8 bowls with a size of 120 ml (1/2 cup), they should be filled for about 3/4…

…and steam for 10-15 minutes or until the custard has set.

Combine 150 ml (2/3 cup) coconut cream with 45 grams (6 Tbsp) rice flour and 1 tsp salt, and whisk to mix.

Pour the coconut cream mixture on top of the custard.

Steam for another 8 minutes.

Serve either warm, or allow to cool and remove from the bowl.

Wine pairing

The caramel flavor of the palm sugar works very well with a medium-bodied moscato passito from the North of Italy.

Flashback

The special airy structure of ciabatta is caused by using high-gluten (manitoba) flour, a very wet starter dough, and three rising/proofing steps.