Sago pudding recipe

When I think of sago pudding, I think of that thick baked custardy dessert from yum cha. The pudding is baked so it forms a skin on top which caramelises to the colour of rich molasses. Breaking through the skin with your eager spoon reveals a dense but creamy custard with hints of coconut milk and packed tight with luminescent sago pearls.

We searched high and low all over Google for this sago recipe but it gave Malaysian versions, Filipino variants and anything else but the baked yum cha version we were after. Maybe we were using the wrong keywords, but the answer was staring at us in the face. Well it was discovered within a rarely used cookbook sitting forlorn on the kitchen shelf.

Sago pudding
from Taste of the Orient

Ingredients
2 cups sago
2 cups sugar
125g butter
1 cup milk
2 cups coconut milk
1 cup cornflour (cornstarch)
1/2 cup custard powder
4 eggs

Method
Soak sago well in water for a few hours. Pour sago into a pan of boiling water and simmer until transparent. Wash under running tap. Drain and set aside.
Put 1 litre water and sugar in a saucepan. Slowly bring to boil and add butter, milk and sago, stirring until well blended.
Mix coconut milk with cornflour and custard powder. Gradually stir into boiling sugar mixture. Continue stirring until thickened. Remove from heat.
Add well-beaten eggs and stir until smooth. Pour into heatproof container and place on middle shelf of preheated oven 230C.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Note: Coconut milk can be replaced by 1/2 water and 1/2 milk.
Serves 10-15.

Submitted for the Weekend Cookbook Challenge #3: Food in Shades of Orange.