Coco-nilla Pudding
My eldest cousin tossed the paper onto my aunt and uncle’s kitchen table.
“Can you believe this?”
His brother, sister, and I looked up from breakfast.
“What?”
“This yogurt taste test. The Migros yogurt wasn’t rated number one.”
His sister laughed and held up her breakfast, a Migros chocolate yogurt, stichfest, firm not creamy.
“Well, we know better”, she said cracking the lid and slurping the thin sour layer of yogurt juice off the top.
Actually it is hardly worth a test, because Swiss yogurt in general is in its own stratosphere when it comes to taste. Whether creamy or firm, plain or flavoured, the yogurt is far superior to anything I've had in any other country. And the flavours: lemon, hazelnut, rhubarb, elderflower, chocolate, Belle Hélène, stracciatella, these are all standard. There are also numerous seasonal flavours, and Coop’s generally excellent yogurt of the month. And that brings me to this pudding.
The Coop yogurt of the month for March is coconut vanilla, and it is excellent. It was this yogurt that inspired this pudding. It's rich, creamy and can double as a tart filling. And because it only uses coconut milk, no regular milk or butter, it is dairy free.
3 egg yolks
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
250 ml coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla paste
In a large bowl, whisk together the yolks, 2 tbsp of the sugar, and cornstarch.
In a medium pot, bring the coconut milk, vanilla paste, and remaining tbsp of the sugar to a boil over high heat. Keep an eye on the pot as it boils over quite quickly.
Once the milk has boiled, take it off the heat and while whisking continuously, pour a very small stream of milk into the egg mixture. You are tempering the egg mixture, but you don't want to add too much of the hot milk at once because the eggs might curdle. Continue adding the milk and once you have mixed it all in, pour everything back into the pot. Keep whisking and cook until the mixture is thick like pudding.
Take it off the heat and strain it through a fine sieve into a bowl. Wait until it stops steaming, then give it a good whisk and cover it with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the pudding. Refrigerate a couple of hours. Or eat warm.
To serve, top with toasted coconut or fruits.
- This makes two very generous servings, and can easily be doubled to feed a crowd.
- Keep an eye on the milk, it can boil over quickly.
- Try to keep whisking constantly, and be sure to scrape the bottom corners of the pan so you don't get any lumps. But if you do have some lumps it's ok—the strainer will remove them.
- Use this as filling for a tart, or other places where you would use pastry cream. Or simply eat like pudding.
