Even after more than a year of tasting Singaporean, Malay, and Indian food, my palate is still very much Filipino. Luckily, there are already a lot of Filipino restaurants here in Singapore. Near my workplace is the Kamayan Filipino Restaurant, or Kamayan for short. It is owned by a Singaporean but serves Filipino dishes concocted by Filipino cooks. I and my officemates go there for lunch and lately, I had more reasons to eat there – the dessert.
I have a selective sweet tooth, and when I tasted their Leche Flan, my tooth fell in love with it. Packed in an ordinary-looking, see-through round container, this Filipino dessert sits on caramelized sugar, waiting to surprise the diner. I take it from the refrigerator and always look forward to savoring it at the end of the meal. (I can always eat it ahead, you might ask, but I think I also wait just a little to add to the final experience =D)
Before the dessert reaches my tongue, its aroma reaches my nostrils first. I inhale the smell of slightly burnt sugar combined with the fresh smell of milk and eggs. The flan is sweet, creamy, fresh, delightfully delicious. Sighhhh…oh my sweet tooth!
I’ve read that traditional leche flan is usually made with evaporated and condensed milk. This gives the leche flan a heavier consistency and creamier flavor. Some cooking method employs a waterbath but the traditional cooking method is steaming. One has to control the steam, though – the stronger the steam, the more bubbles will form in the flan and result to a less smooth and refined texture (and I thought the bubbles are caused by the egg whites in the mixture). There are also various ratios as to the yolk-evaporated milk-condensed milk combination. One of these days I’m going to embark on a taste test of various ratios and cooking methods. Keep posted!
n.b.
Kamayan Filipino Restaurant is located near the Tanjong Pagar MRT station in Singapore.
