You guys asked for it, so here is my recipe for Coconut Milk Custard! Custard is one of my favourite desserts and it’s really so easy to make. The great thing about this version of custard, is that it is suitable for those who are sensitive to dairy milk/choose not to consume milk and coconut-lovers will love it! This custard is made with real eggs yolks making it rich in protein, lecithin and choline (named an essential nutrient by the Institute of Medicine, in 1998). It also has the goodness of lauric acid in the coconut milk itself.
Thick, delicious & rich coconut milk custard: Who knew something so delicious could also be so good for you?
Coconut Milk Custard
Ingredients:
- 400ml coconut milk (full fat) (Nb: If you can’t find full fat coconut milk, you can use low fat coconut milk & add a teaspoon or so of coconut oil or coconut butter into the milk to melt together, in step 1).
- 3 egg yolks (you can keep the egg whites for other culinary creations)
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract or tsp. of vanilla bean paste
- Sweetener of your choice, to taste (I used a few tsp. of honey)
- Fresh fruit, to serve
- In a double boiler (a.k.a a metal or glass bowl over a smaller saucepan/pot of a few cm of simmering water) pour in the coconut milk. Heat on low until it melts and gets quite warm. Add the vanilla extract and the sweetener of your choice and stir to dissolve. Then turn off the heat.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with a whisk.
- Now temper the egg yolks: 1 tablespoon at a time, add the hot coconut milk (into the separate bowl containing the egg yolks) while whisking the egg yolks. Continue adding the coconut milk and whisking the mixture vigorously (otherwise the eggs will curdle).
- Once all the milk has been mixed into the egg yolks, pour it back into the bowl that you used to heat the milk. Place the bowl back over the saucepan. Turn the heat on to very low.
- Now whisk the the custard mixture, making sure to whisk the bottom of the bowl (keeping the stove top heat on low at all times). You will need to whisk it until the custard begins to to thicken and coats the back of a spoon or you can whisk it further until it thickens to the texture of thick cream. it can take about 25-30 mins for it to really thicken. It might not seem like it is thickening but it just takes a bit of time and constant whisking and it will become really deliciously thick! After it has gotten to the consistency that you like, strain it through a fine mesh strainer to discard any proteins that have coagulated (this also makes it really smooth).
- Once it has thickened serve with fresh fruit of your choice (or with any other dessert that needs custard to go with it!). Enjoy!
And if you don’t get what I mean at a particular step, please let me know and I can explain further!
Michelle
Health Food Lover is Michelle Robson-Garth. A student-naturopath-in-training, writer, recipe-creator and all-round foodie from Melbourne, Australia. © Copyright: 2009-2012 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com. Read the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Loving coconut milk so I imagine this would be delicious! Must give it a try.
Thanks Jolene. I hope you like it!
Wow I love this – I am always making ice cream with coconut milk but never have I ventured to custard! I am vegan cleansing right now… but I just asked my partner what he thinks of eating eggs tomorrow for dessert. we will see…
Aww thanks Sylor. Awesome, well I hope you enjoyed it if you made it :)! I hope your cleanse is going well too.
This looks yummy. I’m making this, this week. Do you mind if I post this link on my facebook network?
Oh thanks Jen. I don’t mind at all, go right ahead! Thanks!
Great. Thanks Michelle.
Sounds yummy, but do you have to stand there whisking for half an hour?! Maybe I haven’t understood correctly.. :P
Hi Danielle, that was how long it took for it to thicken up a lot, however you could enjoy it in less time as a more of a pourable custard. You could also use organic corn flour, kuzu or agar-agar to thicken it up in much less time.
sounds yummo!
but what does temper eggs mean??
Thanks Krystal! Tempering eggs is when you mix them slowly into the hot mixture (about a tablespoon at a time) so they become the temperature of the hot coconut milk and to prevent curdling of the eggs.
I think you mean that you mix the hot mixture into the eggs, one tablespoon at a time, until the eggs slowly reach the same temperature as the hot liquid. The way you said it in your explanation makes it sound like it’s the other way around – which would curdle the eggs for sure!
Thank you Linda! That’s exactly what I meant!
This is really yum! But how do you get yours that nice pale colour? Mine came out grey!
Yay! I’m so glad you liked it Janis! Hmm..I think it depends on the colour of the coconut milk – it can vary from a greyish to a white colour, so I think it might be that. Also the brightness of the egg yolks can affect the colour of the custard too.
Okay cool. Whole milk would be delicious in it! Oh a sprig of saffron sounds great too! Please let me know how it goes with your adaptations :)