Dessert
I didn't know where to start with this post because there are so many variations of sweets and desserts available in Brazil from Bahianas (ladies from the northeast of Brazil - a very hot, arid area) dressed in white flowing outfits selling cocadas and other sweets on the streets. Cocadas are very sweet coconut candies shaped like a cookie and they are out of this world good. And then you can cool down with an avocado flavored ice cream or one made with green corn plus all of the "normal" flavors.
My mother's favorite dessert was orange pudding. Our maid/cook (G.) made it for us when we were newly learning Portuguese and Mom missed the complete name of the dessert "Pudim de Laranja" and thought it was "Pudim de" (pronounced pu gim ge). So a few weeks later when G. asked Mom what she wanted for dinner Mom added that dessert should be "pudim de" which is literally "pudding of" G. responded "pudim de que?" (pudding of what?). This went back and forth for a few rounds until G. remembered that she had made pudim de laranja (orange pudding) fairly recently and the confusion was resolved.
Disclaimer: I have never made a Brazilian "pudim de" of any flavor but here is the recipe copied from "Brazilian Cookery". Reading the recipe I notice that it is a very different custard than the flan of Spain and Latin America. We are going to be away from my kitchen for a few days but I promise that on my return I will try this recipe and attempt to add my experience as a comment (Mary and I have not been successful, as of yet, with the comment section of the blog)
By the way, you may notice the huge number of eggs used in this recipe. It is typical for many Brazilian dishes to use lots of separated eggs. So much so that "Brazilian Cookery" has a chart listing recipes that use eggs showing how many whites and yolks are used for each recipe and how many of each are available for other dishes.
When we purchased eggs at the street market in Rio the vendors ingeniously rolled them in newspaper rather than using egg cartons, The packaging always looked flimsy but we never had broken eggs when we arrived home.
Orange Pudding
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
12 egg yolks
8 egg whites
grated rind of 1 orange
1 1/4 cups orange juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
Melt the 1/2 cup sugar and water to a caramel color. Pour into a 1 1/2 or 2 quart round baking dish and set aside.
Beat the egg yolks and whites either with a wire whisk ( I imagine that a mixer would work as well) and add grated rind and juice. (Sorry but the instructions do not give any indication of how long to beat the mixture), Strain through a coarse strainer and mix in the sugar. Turn into the prepped baking dish and bake in a bain-marie in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes or until only slightly jiggly. Let stand in the oven for 10 minutes. Spoon into dishes and top with the caramel sauce in the bottom of the pan.
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