Pandan sangkhaya

One name, several custards

In Thai, sangkhaya names more than one custard. The pandan version on this page is the soft green cream eaten with bread. A Southern Thai cultural-encyclopedia entry records a different sangkhaya: duck or chicken eggs kneaded with finely cut lemongrass leaves and shallots, two parts palm sugar and two parts granulated sugar dissolved in, strained through fine white cloth, poured into a heated steaming tray to about three-quarters of its depth and steamed until set. Villagers there time the steaming by how long one incense stick burns. That is a set, sliceable sweet, not a spread.

Suan Dusit University's course material draws the same line. Egg sangkhaya is eaten with sticky rice, and the present soft pandan version is commonly served with steamed or toasted bread, fried dough and buns.

The measured recipe

The version above, from Hungry in Thailand, serves four. Pandan leaves are blended with water and strained for their juice, which supplies both the green colour and the scent that the page compares to vanilla with a hint of coconut. The juice is whisked with coconut milk, egg yolks, sugar and salt, and a cornstarch slurry is added. The bowl goes over a pot of simmering water, with the water kept below the rim, and the custard is whisked on low heat for about 8 to 10 minutes until it is glossy and coats a spoon.

The author warns that high heat curdles the eggs, recommends stopping at the coating stage because the custard thickens as it cools, and loosens an over-thick batch with 1 to 2 tablespoons of warm coconut milk. Fresh leaves are preferred to bottled extract, and full-fat coconut milk for richness.

Another published version

Pailin Chongchitnant's Hot Thai Kitchen recipe, written for six servings, builds a pandan-and-coconut dip from coconut milk, condensed milk, sugar, salt, cornstarch and egg yolks, with evaporated milk to adjust thickness. Pandan is blended and strained, the yolks are tempered with warmed liquid and the mixture is stirred over low heat until thick. The page could not be read again for this entry, so its exact amounts are not repeated here, and the two versions are not interchangeable.

Serving

As a dip for soft white bread it is one of the most common ways to eat it, at breakfast or as a snack even though it counts as a dessert. It also works as a spread on toast, or beside warm sticky rice. The author of the measured recipe calls it a sweet fondue for dipping. Some versions are steamed until firm and sliceable, which this one is not.

A 1987 study of a canned custard spread

Chulalongkorn University holds a 1987 M.Sc. thesis on coconut custard spread for bread by Sumang Pawawech. Selected scans reviewed earlier cover a canned industrial formulation, a retort trial and storage experiments on that product and package. The findings concern that formulation, not the home dip, and they say nothing about its origin. No home canning process follows from them.

Keeping it

Refrigerate in an airtight container within 2 hours of cooking. The author gives up to 3 days, with the colour brightest on the first day. The custard firms in the fridge and loosens with 10 to 15 minutes at room temperature or a splash of warm coconut milk. This is household guidance; no source tests the keeping time.