Coconut Flan with Pandan

This super easy recipe for coconut flan features a nice Asian twist with pandandus leaves. The smooth custard with subtle pandan flavors reminds me of khao pard, except more custardy. I was in dessert heaven. It’s so smooth and the flan itself it’s not too sweet. I think it would have been even better if I had made it with a salted caramel. Note to self for next time. 🙂

As some of you may know, I decided on a career change recently and have gone back to school. My life currently consist of full time work, full time school and full time family. People around me joke that my breaks are between breaths. And that’s about right. Every minute is spent before they happen, which is why I have been working on easier recipes that I can fit into my day.

This flan recipe was so easy, I fit it into a lunch break as I did the fried fish with tamarind chili sauce. Sure this took the whole lunch hour, but that was the baking time, which didn’t require me to do anything except for study.

Notes:

• If you want to make a coconut flan without pandan, just omit the pandan leaves and add about 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or coconut extract.
• You can make the flan a day ahead and let it set overnight. I had one that I ate the day after and the pandan flavor had developed so nicely.
• If you find that the top of your flan is browning too quickly while baking, take a piece of aluminum foil and tent it over the ramekins.
• I had a cup of sugar and 1/4 water for caramel on my video, but there were some excess and I decided to reduce it for the recipe. So it may appear like a lot on the video.

Coconut Flan (with Pandan)

Caramel:
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water

Flan:
1 (13.5 oz) can coconut milk
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
4 large eggs (room temperature)
½ teaspoon salt
3- 4 fresh or frozen pandan leaves

Boiling water for water bath

Preheat oven to 325F. Place 4 (9oz) ramekins into a roasting pan. Set aside.

For caramel:
In a medium sauce pan over medium high heat, add sugar and water. Stir until sugar is completely wet. Then leave alone for 8-10 minutes until amber in color.
Divide evenly into 4 (9 oz) ramekins.

For flan:
Place pandan leaves, eggs, coconut milk, condensed milk and salt into a blender. Blend for about a minute until pandan leaves are small specks. Pour mixture over a fine mesh sieve into ramekins over caramel.

Carefully move roasting pan into middle rack of oven. Pour boiling water into roasting pan until about half way up ramekins. Be care not to splash any water into ramekins. Bake for 55-60 minutes. Remove ramekins from roasting pan and allow to cool on cooling rack for 10-15 minutes. (Be careful, it is hot). Then allow to cool and set in refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours or overnight. Before serving, run a knife around the edge of the flan. Turn onto a plate and serve.