Manjar Blanco Yucateco

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •High-powered blender
• •Heavy-bottomed 4-quart pot, enameled cast iron or thick stainless
• •Wooden spoon for stirring
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Shallow Talavera platter or 8 individual clay cazuelitas

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak and grind the rice

   Rinse the rice under cold water until the water runs clear. Cover with two cups of cold water and soak for at least two hours, or overnight on the counter. Drain. Transfer to a blender with one cup of fresh cold water and grind on high until you have a smooth white slurry with no visible grains. This is the body of manjar blanco. Cornstarch is a shortcut. No me vengas con atajos. The ground rice gives a different texture and the dulces de convento were made with rice.

   Soak the rice the night before. The water softens the grain enough that the blender does the rest of the work in two minutes.
2. 2

   Extract the coconut milk

   Place the finely grated fresh coconut in a heatproof bowl. Pour the hot water over it and let it steep for ten minutes. Press the coconut through a fine-mesh sieve set over a measuring cup, squeezing hard with your hands to extract every drop of the cloudy white liquid. You should have about one cup of fresh coconut milk. Reserve the squeezed coconut pulp. You will fold a little of it back in at the end for texture.

3. 3

   Infuse the milk

   In a heavy-bottomed pot, combine the whole milk, heavy cream, sugar, Ceylon cinnamon sticks, lime zest, and salt. Heat over medium-low, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is hot but not yet simmering. Lower the heat and let everything steep for ten minutes. The Ceylon cinnamon is not the same as cassia. Cassia is harsh and tastes like a candle. Canela de Ceylan is delicate, papery, and floral. The dulces yucatecos depend on this distinction.

4. 4

   Build the manjar

   Strain the infused milk back into the pot, discarding the cinnamon and zest. Return to medium-low heat. Slowly whisk in the rice slurry in a steady stream, then add the fresh coconut milk. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom and the corners of the pot. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes. The mixture will thicken gradually, then suddenly. You are looking for the moment it coats the spoon and a line drawn across the back stays clean. If it tastes raw and starchy, keep cooking. The rice needs to be fully cooked or the pudding will taste like wet flour.

   Do not walk away from this pot. Rice settles to the bottom and scorches in seconds. Five minutes of inattention will give you a manjar that tastes burned all the way through.
5. 5

   Temper the yolks

   Pull the pot off the heat. Place the beaten egg yolks in a small bowl. Ladle a half cup of the hot manjar slowly into the yolks while whisking constantly. This warms them without scrambling. Return the tempered yolks to the pot and whisk to combine. Put the pot back on the lowest heat for one minute, stirring the whole time. The yolks set the pudding silken and give it the pale ivory color the Conceptionist nuns wrote about.

6. 6

   Finish and set

   Off the heat, stir in the orange flower water and two tablespoons of the reserved coconut pulp. The orange flower is a colonial Yucatecan signature, brought through the trade routes that ran from the peninsula through the Caribbean. Taste for sugar. It should be sweet but not cloying. The coconut and cinnamon should both be present. Pour the manjar into a shallow Talavera platter or eight individual cazuelitas. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least four hours, until fully set. Asi se hace y punto.

7. 7

   Dust and serve

   Just before serving, dust the top with ground Ceylon cinnamon through a fine sieve. Scatter the toasted coconut shavings across the surface. Lay a few whole cinnamon sticks alongside on the platter. Serve cold, with a spoon. The texture should be silken-soft, somewhere between a flan and a thick crema. If it is rubbery, you cooked it too long. If it weeps, you did not cook it long enough. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Use a fresh coconut, not the bagged shredded coconut from the supermarket. The bagged kind is dried and sweetened and will give you a candy-coconut flavor that has nothing to do with the dulces of Merida. If you cannot crack a fresh coconut, find a Caribbean or Mexican market that sells it already grated, unsweetened.
• •Canela de Ceylon is sold at any decent Mexican market and most Latin American grocers. It is the only cinnamon used in Mexican cooking. Cassia is what the American supermarkets sell as 'cinnamon,' and it is harsh and one-note. The substitution is a compromise and a noticeable one.
• •Orange flower water (agua de azahar) is sold in small bottles at Middle Eastern and Mexican groceries. A teaspoon is enough. Two teaspoons and the manjar starts to taste like perfume. Respect the dose.
• •Manjar blanco is a dish that improves overnight. Make it the day before you plan to serve it. The flavors marry, the texture settles, and the cinnamon deepens.

Advance Preparation

• •The rice can be soaked overnight in the refrigerator. The texture is better when the grain has had eight hours to soften.
• •Manjar blanco can be made one full day ahead and refrigerated, covered, in the serving vessel. The flavor is better on day two. Past three days, the coconut starts to lose its freshness.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 200g)