Thai pumpkin custard

Fall for flavor
Seasonal sweets bring festive tastes to kitchen
Published: November 11, 2015 in the Press Enterprise.

Fall is a great time to start baking for fun and for the holidays. (Thanksgiving is creeping up on us.) So try branching out with some familiar flavors used in different ways.

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Halloween may be done, but pumpkin season rolls on!

You can find kaffir lime leaves in Asian grocers, online and often at natural foods stores. You can find them fresh (they freeze and store well), or even thinly sliced and jarred.

Deliciousness aside, pumpkin is a smart choice for dessert. Canned or fresh, it’s full of carotenoids and fiber, and it boasts more potassium than a banana. And a cup of canned pumpkin has just 80 calories.

Using fat-free evaporated milk gives the dessert a lovely creaminess. Combined with the coconut milk, as it is here, it delivers the kind of creamy texture that defines a custard... without all the fat and calories. In the end, nobody will suspect that they’re digging into a “light” custard.

Thai Pumpkin Custard

Start to finish: 7 hours 30 minutes (20 minutes active)

Servings: 6

3 large eggs

1/2 cup packed brown sugar, preferably dark

1/2 cup lite coconut milk

5 ounces fat-free evaporated milk

2 teaspoons finely minced Kaffir lime leaves (or 11/2 teaspoons freshly grated lime zest)

11/2 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons dark rum (optional)

Seeds from 1 vanilla bean or 11/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1 cup pumpkin puree

Chopped crystallized ginger or toasted coconut, to garnish

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a kettle of water to a simmer.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the eggs.

Add the brown sugar and beat just until any lumps have dissolved.

Add the coconut milk, condensed milk, lime leaves, lime juice, rum, if using, vanilla seeds or extract, salt and pumpkin puree.

Beat just until smooth.

Divide the mixture between six 1-cup ramekins.

Set the ramekins into a rectangular baking pan (such as a lasagna pan), pour enough simmering water into the baking pan to come half way up the sides of the ramekins.

Carefully transfer the baking pan to the oven’s middle shelf and bake until a knife inserted at the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Remove the ramekins from the water bath and cool on a wire rack.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled, about 6 hours.

Serve each portion topped with some of the crystallized ginger or coconut.

Recipe from Sara Moulton for the Associated Press.

Nutritional information per serving: 170 calories; 30 calories from fat (18 percent of total calories); 3.5 g fat (1.5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 90 mg cholesterol; 26 g carbohydrate; 2 g fiber; 23 g sugar; 6 g protein; and 170 mg sodium.