Steamed Creme Caramel Recipes

Do you realized in French there's a baked silky smooth sweet dessert? It can be eaten as hot or cool. It is Creme Caramel or better known as custard in Malaysia. However do you know there is another name for this recipe?? The answer is Flan. All the while, I was confuse with another name Creme Brulee. Ok, let me explain here. Egg custard/Flan/Creme Caramel requires caramelized the sugar until thick before adding in custard mixture. When serve, the egg yellow soft custard with sweet caramel oozing from top to bottom surrounding the custard. Overall is soft and creamy.

But, it is different from Creme Brulee. It is baked the custard until jiggling in the middle. When serve, sprinkle some sugar and using torch to torched till sugar burnt on top. How do eat?? We need to use a spoon to crack the hard sugar and eat together with egg custard; just like broken sugar that will melt in your mouth and something smooth goes along.

So which is my preference, I still the prefer the traditional way baked custard with thick caramel. But today, I choose steamed instead of baked. The taste is the same. To those who doesn't have oven, you can choose steamed as an alternatives.

Steamed Creme Caramel
Ingredients:
2 eggs
water (2-3 tbsp for caramel + fill water into 1 egg shell for custard)
5-6 tbsp evaporated milk
5-6 tbsp sugar

Method:

1. Place sugar in a pot with 2-3 tbsp or more for caramelized. Switch the fire to very low. Be careful not to burnt the sugar (taste bitter and destroy the dessert after all). Mixed the sugar and some water together. Once the bubbles appear, stop please stop stirring but just swirling the pot or pan slowly for well-caramelized. Once all the sugar has become dark in color, remove and set aside. Make sure of the heat from the pan as you may get burnt. The sugar level is very high due to its temperature. Be careful.
2. Before it become thick/ harden, quickly pour to the ramekins or containers for later use. If the caramel has become candy, bring it back to the stove for warming for a few second. Once become liquid, remove.
3. Crack the eggs in bowl and add in evaporated milk and some sugar (your preference quantity). Add in the water according to the amount of eggs. Use the egg shell as the measurement for the custard. If 1 egg: 1/2 egg shell.   
   
4. Roughly mixed without bubbles appear; not the same as mixing cake batter. If bubbles appear, use a spoon or a strainer to remove all bubbles. This is to prevent any holes appear after steaming.
5. Pour the egg custard to the cooled caramelized ramekins. Make sure the caramel has harden if not they will mixed together with the egg custard. We do not want the mixing.
6. Prepare a another pot water and boil. Place the ramekins in the pot using a steaming rack or bamboo basket. 
7. Steamed at 5-6 minutes or more; depends on the egg custard. Check them out after 5 mins, if the center is jiggling then steamed for 1 more min. Do not overcook.
8. Once cooked, removed and set aside for cool completely. You can opt for eating as hot or cool by placing them inside fridge for few hours. 
9. Serve by, using a knife slowly remove the egg custard from the ramekins and slowly placed to another serving plate. Watch out the caramel will oozing out. Yummy!!

Note:
You can used aluminum to cover each ramekins to prevent the steaming water drop into the creme caramel.
You can opt the sugar caramel, start by steaming the egg custard directly to the ramekins. When serve, spread 1-2 tsp apricot jam. The taste is still the same.