Vietnamese Coffee Custard Cups
Australian chef Luke Nguyen travelled across France to learn the secrets of classic French dishes and how they have influenced Vietnamese cuisine.
His new cookbook, Luke Nguyen’s France – A Gastronomic Adventure, features recipes inspired by his journey – including this one for Vietnamese coffee custard cups.
“One of the greatest things the French introduced to Vietnam was coffee!” he writes in the book.
“Today, Vietnam is one of the world’s biggest coffee producers, and there are coffee shops on every corner. The locals like to drink their coffee with sweetened condensed milk, so here I have used condensed milk and Vietnamese coffee beans to make delicious coffee custard cups.”
Vietnamese Coffee Custard Cups
Serves 8
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Ingredients
25g (⅓ cup) finely ground Vietnamese coffee (such as the Trung Nguyen brand, available from Asian supermarkets)
80ml (⅓ cup) boiling water
700ml milk
2 tablespoons condensed milk
8 free-range eggs
150g sugar
1 teaspoon Dutch (unsweetened) cocoa powder, for dusting
Small violets, to garnish (optional)
Method
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Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). In a heatproof bowl, combine the coffee and boiling water, stirring to dissolve the coffee. Now add the milk and condensed milk and mix well.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until the sugar has completely dissolved.
Stir the egg mixture into the condensed milk mixture, then strain the entire mixture through a fine sieve, into a jug. Skim any bubbles off the surface.
Slowly pour the custard into eight small coffee cups. Place the cups in a roasting tin, then transfer the roasting tin to the oven.
Now pour enough hot water into the roasting tin to reach two-thirds up the side of the cups. Bake for 45–60 minutes, or until the custards have set and have a jelly-like consistency.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours. Dust with cocoa powder before serving, garnished with violets if desired.
Recipe and images from Luke Nguyen’s France, published by Hardie Grant Books, $59.95.
