Coconut Blancmange

INGREDIENTS

• 1 LITRE WHOLE MILK
• 200 ML COCONUT MILK (P. 290)
• ⅔ CUP SUGAR
• 1 CUP CORNSTARCH

TOPPING

• 1 CUP SUGAR 
• 2 CUPS PITTED PRUNES, SOAKED IN WATER

PREPARATION

Combine milk, coconut milk and sugar in a pot. Stir altogether to dissolve the sugar and bring it to a boil. Add cornstarch and keep stirring, so it won’t lump. Cook for 10 minutes over low heat and transfer to a baking tray sprayed with water, so the blancmange won’t stick. Allow to cool and take it to the fridge. For the topping, cook sugar, prunes and 1 cup of the soaking water; turn off the heat right after it thickens. When blancmange is firm and cold, unmold and drizzle with cold syrup and garnish with prunes. 

IN DETAIL
In Portugal, back in the old days, blancmange was a whole family of savoury or sweet dishes which used chicken breast as “gelatin”. In Brazil, Portuguese blancmange embodied cornstarch and coconut milk, becoming one of our classic desserts all over the country.