Our cookbook of the week is Diala’s Kitchen by Diala Canelo. Tomorrow, we’ll feature an interview with the author.
To try another recipe from the book, check out: Mashed plantains with fried eggs and blackened fish over yuca fries .
“Flan is home for me,” says Diala Canelo . “From the moment you’re born, your mother is giving you flan.”
Requiring few ingredients, the delicate dessert is a staple throughout the Caribbean islands colonized by Spain, she explains. Growing up in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, celebrations of all kinds were marked with a flan. While typically made with condensed or evaporated milk, or a mixture of regular milk and heavy cream, Canelo opts for coconut milk as well.
“I wanted to include the element of coconut, which is so prominent in Dominican, in the flan. It gives it a creamier texture,” she says. “And I don’t like to use the word elevated. Nothing should be elevated. Food should be as is. But it just makes the flan even more flavourful. You don’t need anything else with it.”
COCONUT FLAN
1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 can (14 oz/400 mL) full-fat coconut milk
1 can (14 oz/400 mL) sweetened condensed milk
1 can (12 oz/354 mL) evaporated milk
1 tbsp (15 mL) pure vanilla extract
1 tsp (5 mL) white rum
1 cup (250 mL) sliced fresh strawberries
Step 1
Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C).
Step 2
Pour the sugar into a large frying pan. With a rubber spatula, stir constantly over medium heat while the sugar melts and turns a golden-brown caramel. If the sugar is browning too fast, reduce the heat to medium-low.
Step 3
Immediately pour the caramel into a 9-inch (23 cm) flan pan or round baking dish, tilting the dish as you pour so that the caramel coats the bottom and sides of the pan. Work quickly because the caramel will start to set. Set aside.
Step 4
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, then whisk in the coconut milk, condensed milk, evaporated milk, vanilla and rum. (Or you can combine all the ingredients in a blender and whirl for 30 seconds, until combined.) Pour the custard mixture over the cooled caramel.
Step 5
Prepare a water bath by placing the flan pan in a larger baking dish (or roasting pan). Slide the baking dish into the oven and then pour enough hot water into the dish to come about halfway up the side (about 2 inches/5 cm) of the flan pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the flan comes out clean.
Step 6
Remove the water bath from the oven and transfer the flan to a rack to cool completely. Store the flan overnight in the fridge, loosely covered with plastic wrap.
Step 7
When ready to serve, set the flan on a baking sheet filled with 1/2 inch (1 cm) of hot water for 5 minutes. This will make it easier to unmould the flan.
Step 8
To serve, run a knife around the sides of the flan to loosen it. Place a large round platter with a rim over the flan and invert it, allowing the flan to drop onto the platter and the caramel sauce to flow over and around the custard. Scatter a few sliced strawberries on top. Store, covered, in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Makes: 1 flan, serves 8
Excerpted from Diala’s Kitchen by Diala Canelo. Copyright © 2020 by Diala Canelo. Published by Penguin an imprint of Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
