Week 6 (Cooking) - Pudim de Coco (Brazilian Coconut Pudding)

Week six of the cooking challenge is upon me and wouldn't you know it, this run of the mill white girl doesn't know a thing about Brazilian food. To the internet!

As per what seems to be a developing cookiecrumbles tradition, I had originally opted for a very different recipe. But, as luck would have it I could not get a proper translation of it at home. The recipe I had found for pao de queijo (Brazilian cheese rolls) translated fine at work, but when I pulled up the same recipe at home it kept telling me that I needed 4 cups of candy as the first ingredient; as exciting as that sounds, it just wasn't right. It turned out this was a magnificent misfortune as about 1/2 of the other 52weeksof participants seemed to have opted for the same dish and I like to stand safely outside the norm.

Pudim de Coco

Be sure to absolutely mangle the can while opening it.

• 1 can (13.5 oz coconut milk)
• 13.5 oz milk
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp corn starch
• 3 tbsp coconut flakes
• Additional coconut flakes for serving (optional)

Recipe comes from sonia-portuguese.com

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a medium size pot over medium heat.
   
   

   

   
   

2. Cook 10-15 minutes (I pulled mine right at 12), stirring regularly, until mixture becomes very thick. . Make sure you're scraping the bottom as you are stirring otherwise the coconut will settle to the bottom and burn.
   
   

   

   The pudding will bubble and boil so keep stirring.

3. Transfer to a pudding mold that has been rinsed in cold water. I don't own a pudding mold so I divided the pudding into 4 large muffin cups.
   
   

   

   No pudding mold? No problem! Muffin tins are close enough.

4. Allow to cool to room temperature.
5. Refrigerate until the pudding is somewhat solid and retains it's shape.
6. Unmold, plate, and sprinkle with coconut flakes.
   The unmolding didn't turn out quite as pretty as I would have liked - one transfered neatly onto the kitchen floor though - so I mashed it up a bit before sprinkling. No one will ever no. Unless, you know, you post it on the internet.
   
   

   

   No quite a perfect mold, but flavor has no shape.

   
   

I opted not to make the plum sauce listed in the original recipe not because I hate plums, but because I just didn't have any in the house and there was absolutely no way I was dragging myself to the store for them. The pudding was delicious without it, I can't imagine adding a sweet sauce over this dish.


Do you have any experience with Brazlian food? How'd I do?
Have a recipe you want to share with me/the rest of the world?
Questions? Leave a comment or email me at BakeMeUpButtercup@gmail.com