Ube Halaya - Filipino Purple Yam Dessert (Gluten Free)
Always up for a challenge, I wanted to make this dessert that I had at a luncheon. One of our staff members was retiring and Fr. Tony had me taste this delicious purple colored dessert. Although, the one I had was thicker and more like candy, I think this recipe is close. This one is creamy and has more of a brownie consistency then candy.
Food can trigger special memories and I always enjoy making recipes that have stories attached to them. This obviously is not my recipe, I have to give credit to http://www.hungryforgoodies.com for the base recipe that I altered a little. I call it tweeking (not twerking) in a culinary way that I love to do. I'm not a fan of coconut milk so I used whole milk instead. I could not remember if the original one that I had was finished with shredded coconut. I decided to omit it, not being a fan of coconut, it makes me gag.
Research did reveal that some were shaped into logs that were rolled in toasted shredded coconut and then cut into "football shapes". This is a base recipe and you can make the way you like. I bet this would be great with a drizzle of dark chocolate and hazelnuts. Not traditional by any means and I'm sure there's a Lola (Grandmother) yelling "stick to the recipe, it's worked for hundreds of years".
Let's talk about the ube or the purple yam. The best way I could describe this is if a plantain banana and a beet had a starchy offspring. It has pigments that gives its violet color. In India, this vegetable is known as ratalu.
Ube is a staple flavor of desserts in the Philippines. Ube can be boiled, fried, mashed, used in desserts such as cakes, cookies, flan, purple sticky rice, used in smoothies, used in crackers, made into ice cream and cakes, jams and spreads, used to make candy, and used in many culinary dishes to replace regular yams. And one of the most popular foods is Halo Halo, a famous dessert in the Philippines. Even cooked Ube yams combined with blueberries and coconut could create a good flavor. Some people feel that, Ube tastes a bit like hazelnut, chocolate, and vanilla.*
Let's get cooking, you'll need:
3 cups cubed and boiled purple yams
1/2 cup whole milk
1 can Eagle Brand Borden- (396G) Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
plastic bag
1 tsp butter
baking dish
1) Peel the purple yams. They have a thin skin and are difficult like a plantain to peel. There's a magic word for this recipe PATIENCE. You are going to need it. I've realized that every Lola (Grandmother) in the Philiippines must have amazing patience. Nothing about this recipe can be rushed.
Once peeled, cube them and put in a pot of water. Bring them to a rapid boil until they are fork tender. (when you stick a fork in them they are tender, about 20 mins)
Note: by now, you've noticed, like the beet, your hands are purple, your cutting board is purple and so is water that the yams boiled in. You may want to wear gloves when you cut the yams. If you didn't, no worries. Spray your favorite cleaner (Clorox Cleanup) on your hands then wash as normal and it will come off. If you have a white sink, melt 2 tbsp of coconut oil and rub it all around your sink before draining the yams. This will prevent the yams from discoloring your white sink. Then just clean the coconut oil out of your sink with a mild soap.
2) Once the yams are drained add them to a food processor (hot) with the whole milk and the condensed milk. Mix on high until you get a smooth consistency. You'll need to scrap the side of the food processor a few times during this process to ensure that all the yams are incorporated with the milk.
3) Carefully removed the blade and it's time to strain the mixer. Yes, this is
an important step. The first time I made this, I thought "this looks smooth enough" and it didn't set-up properly. I realized that this step was one that I should not have skipped. Using a strainer over a bowl, push the mixture thru.
There are seeds and impurities in the mixture that will prevent it from setting up properly. The goal is for a smooth and pure mixture to boil. This is what the strainer looked like when I when done pushing the mixture thru.
This would have ruined my dessert.
Now it's time to set up a double boiler. Sounds scary but I don't get fancy. I put a metal boil over a larger pot of boiling water. By all means if you have a bain-marie (water bath) feel free to use it, but I like to keep things simple.
The object of the double boiler is that it delivers indirect heat and the ube won't burn.
Nothing fancy but it works fine. Don't let the water from the pot below boil so hard that the water enters the bowl above.
4) I strained the mixture directly into the metal bowl of the double boiler. Add it to the heat and drop in the butter and sugar. Once it comes to a boil stir in the vanilla. You need to taste a little to see if you want your dessert a little sweeter. If so, you can adjust the sugar and add more. This starts the "stir-a-thon"!
The mixture is thin and will thicken after 30-35 mins of stirring. Yes, I said 30-35 mins of stirring. This is a great arm workout and it can not be left alone or it will burn. It starts off very thin and will thicken as it cooks. Continue to stir from the bottom of the bowl up to the top. Make sure you scrap along the sides of the bowl also to ensure everything cooks evenly.
This picture was taken 25 minutes into the cooking process and
the mixture was just starting to thicken a little but needed to continue to cook for another 15 minutes. I could tell when the mixture was thicker then a standard pudding yet softer then fudge that it was ready. (does that make sense?)
I was able to pull it away from the bowl and it held it's form. Remove from the heat and place in a buttered baking dish. I used a disposable baking tin so it's easier to remove the pieces and it was a perfect size. Put a plastic bag on your hand, holding a pat of butter, push down the mixture into the bowl.
The butter will melt from the heat and leave the dessert with a shinny and smooth top. Refrigerate the dessert for 2 hours before cutting into squares. Dust with powdered sugar.
Enjoy!.
Source: www.ubekitchen.com