Make My Mom’s Award-Winning Brazilian Flan (Pudim) Recipe
I am proud to be a child of immigrants, with parents from such a culturally rich place like Brazil.
Truly, I got to live the best of both worlds.
At home and in my community, I enjoyed (and still enjoy) a rich, diverse culture, automatically growing up in a bilingual household, while having the privileges afforded to me as a white, born-in-the-U.S.-American.
I’m very much aware of these privileges and try my best to leverage them to help others, especially those facing social injustice.
My parents worked incredibly hard, running a small scuba diving business for 23 years, hosting free events, and becoming a pillar of the community not just for divers, but also for ocean lovers.
The Brazilian community in our city was a large part of my parents’ success.
My parents’ life story is wild, and I hope I get the chance to tell it one day.
For now, just know that immigrants like my parents are what make this country great.
Any hate towards immigrants is a ploy and distraction, so you don’t realize that the issue is not your neighbor, but the CEOs and billionaires hoarding 90% of this nation’s wealth.
This administration only cares about themselves, their profits, and saving their own asses from prison.
So I said it before, and I’ll say it again: if you're in any way supportive of this current administration’s handling of immigration and ICE, do not make this recipe. It’s not for you.
The First Dessert I Learned How to Make
As the eldest daughter of immigrant parents, you learn many life skills early on.
The number one skill I learned and quickly took over for my mom first was cooking.
In Brazilian and South American culture, lunch is the largest meal of the day.
My parents had a scuba diving business, but for many years, while we were young, my mom stayed home with us.
When I was around 8, the business was booming, so my dad needed her in the store regularly.
That’s when I started watching my sisters and making food here and there.
I had been making my own breakfasts since I was in kindergarten, actually.
But it wasn’t until I was around 10 that my mom started calling me from the shop to the landline.
“Ay, Ale, can you get the rice started for me?” she’d ask in Portuguese, but I’ll give you the English here.
“But I don’t know how to make rice,” I replied in English.
“I’ll tell you right now over the phone.”
And so my over-the-phone cooking classes started.
My mom was/is truly brilliant and taught me to cook everything from rice and beans and chicken, Brazilian potato salad, to specific dishes she made like her famous yellow chicken and rice or her green pasta, all, for the most part, over the phone. Clearly, the childhood names my sisters and I gave to these dishes.
Soon after, my mom taught me to make a Brazilian staple, pudim.
It’s our version of flan, and I think it’s better than any other Latin countries, lo siento mi gente.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you get to make this delicious dessert!
What You Need
Eggs
Can of condensed milk
Whole milk
White sugar
Water
Blender
Wooden spoon to spread the carmel
Two baking dishes you can nest for a water bath
Brazilian Flan “Pudim” Recipe
3 eggs
1 can of condensed milk
1 can’s worth of whole milk
½ cup to cup of white sugar
¼ cup to ½ cup of water
Make the flan contents by combining the three eggs, a can of condensed milk, and using the same can, measure out a can’s worth of whole milk, all to a blender and blend until completely combined. Set aside.
Now, make the caramelized sugar. Start by adding ½ cup of sugar, up to 1 cup, or until there’s an even layer on the bottom of a medium-sized sauce pot.
The key is to add water in the middle, as that takes longer to heat up, wait two minutes, then add enough water just to make the sugar a little wet, like a thin layer of water. DO NOT walk away, it happens fast!
Patience is important. The bubbles will tell you everything. First, the bubbles will be small and fast.
Then the bubbles will slow down into bigger bubbles.
The bubbles will slow down more and start turning caramel brown. DO NOT walk away, it happens fast!
Take it off as it starts to get deep carmely brown and put your oven mitts on.
Pour the caramelized sugar into your pan and move the pan around so the caramel covers the pan.
Pour the contents from the blender into the sugared pan.
Place that pan into the other nested pan, and place both pans in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. Pour water into the pan for a water bath.
Cook in the oven at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes, covered with aluminum foil in a water bath.
Remove the foil and cook for 10-15 more minutes until a light golden brown on top.
To remove from the cooking pan, take a knife around the edges of the pan. Put the dish on top of the pan with the pudim inside. Flip over carefully and lightly tap on the pan, then lift the pan. Voila!
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