Steamed Flan

Here’s the thing about a lot of East Asian cooking — it can be boiled down to what you put in the wok and what you put in the steamer. No, seriously, I think that those two categories probably account for about 95% of what my mother made. Which isn’t a bad thing — it’s a very healthy approach to eating and it’s very fast if you’ve done the prep in advance.

Here’s the other thing — when it comes to steaming, nothing works better than a big, old-fashioned rice cooker. Not those fancy-schmancy things with the electronic dashboards that can make 20 different kinds of porridge and come with a retinal scanner, I mean the big metal pot with only one button (ON). It’s a glorified hot plate with one key function — it knows when to turn itself off. That’s really all you need, though. The variety of things you can cook in that contraption are endless. Stews, porridges, vegetables, puddings, buns, cakes… Yep, we steam desserts all the time. It’s fab! No messing around with messy water baths, ramekins, and multiple temperature stages in the oven, just pop the whole thing into the machine and go check your email.

So yes. I had the family over this past Tuesday for theme dinner night, which happened to be Mexican. And what Mexican dinner is complete without a flan for dessert? I’ve made plenty of flans the “normal” way before, with either an improvised bain-marie or the oven water bath deal, but it’s such a pain in the rear to set up, monitor, and refill all those pots. Then I remembered that most of the Asian groceries I went to would always have gorgeous little steamed flans, which couldn’t be much harder to make than the other steamed custards I do on a regular basis. Problem solved!

Please forgive the little bits of custard messing up the glossy perfection of my caramel topping — I was plating and serving these on a schedule, so it was all I could do to grab the camera before this one was taken to the table. Otherwise I would have taken the time to style it prettier Based on Kiss My Spatula’s mother’s recipe for Chinese Steamed Flan with only a smidgelet of tweaking because of ingredient availability.

Ingredients! 1 cup of white sugar, divided into two 1/2 cup portions. One portion is for the caramel topping and one is for the flan — the original recipe only uses 1/3 cup of sugar for the flan, but how sweet you want your custard is a subjective thing. I wanted mine a touch sweeter because I was using a dollop of cream and that tends to go over better when it’s sweeter. Speaking of which, you’ll also need 2 cups of whole milk (or, since it was what I happened to have in the fridge, 1 cup of lactose-free cooking cream and 1 cup of lactose-free skim milk). You’ll also want 4 large eggs and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Spread 1/2 cup of white sugar evenly over the surface of your saucepan over medium heat. Give in a few minutes to warm up.

Your sugar will start melting. You can stir with a wooden spoon to speed up the process.

The sugar will start to turn a honey-like color as it caramelizes. I usually start swirling the liquid parts around at this point to help distribute the sugar more evenly as it heats.

When it start turning golden, keep an eye out.

When it is fully liquefied and a light brownish color, take it off the heat. You’ll have to work fast at this point, because this stuff will harden in minutes when it’s off the heat source.

Immediately pour into the bottom of the receptacles you will be using for your flans. Ramekins are ideals, but since I do not yet have a set of those, I used this cute little set of heat-sturdy coffee cups. Swirl the caramel around so it covers the entire bottom.

Set up your steaming contraption. I did not yet have a rice cooker when making these, so once again used my pot and steam tray. Heat 2 inches of water to boiling, then reduce to a simmer.

While the water is heating up, get your custard ready. Here I add 1 cup of milk to 1 cup of cream for the dairy portion.

Next, add your sugar (1/3 to 1/2 cup, depending on your preference) to the dairy over low heat. Stir until sugar is melted and combined, then take off of the heat. You don’t want this stuff to get too hot.

Beat together your four eggs and the vanilla extract.

Slowly pour the milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking as you go so that the warm milk does not scald the eggs. You want to maintain that smooth consistency.

Pour finished flan mixture into your containers.

Make sure that your pot has a good bit of warm steam going (you want the temperature to stay even as these cook) and put in your flans. I could only do three at a time with this pot, so had to do two small batches. Cover and steam for between 15-20 minutes. Check in on them at 15 and jiggle to see if the center is set. If it still looks liquid, let it go for a bit longer. Be careful not to leave them in too long, though, or they will bubble and the consistency will be ruined.

Three little steamed flans, looking silky smooth. Remove flans from heat and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate overnight. To serve, run a wet knife around the inside of the container, then invert onto the plate. The caramel will run down and make a little pool of sauce. Garnish with a sprig of mint, some fruit, or just serve plain!