Ube Halaya (Purple Yam Jam)

I had a bunch of grated ube left after my ube waffle experiemnts the other day, so I decided to go looking for ideas of what to make with it. I contemplated various cakes and puddings but, after consulting with TF, we opted for ube halaya as it's delicious on its own and also an ingredient in many other ube-based desserts.

I ran across a few different variants on the basic theme of ube, sugar, and milk (either dairy, coconut, or both). Most included coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk. Some also included evaporated milk, granulated sugar, and/or brown sugar. And a few called for grated cheddar.

Most of the pictures of homemade ube halaya that I've seen show it being quite thick. As in, moldable and sliceable. I got tired of cooking and stirring mine, so I stopped it before it got that thick. Mine came out more like Nutella or tahini than butter or membrillo.

Ube Halaya

Slightly adapted from Decorated Treats

Ingredients

• 300g thawed frozen grated ube
• 1 tsp. ube extract
• 150g sweetened condensed milk
• 150g coconut milk
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 45g unsalted butter

Directions

1. Combine the ube, ube extract, sweetened condensed milk, and coconut milk and mix well.
2. Cook over medium-low heat¹, stirring constantly, for 30 minutes.
3. Mix in the salt and butter and continue cooking and stirring for another 10-15 minutes.
4. The original recipe called for cooling the jam with the lid on, periodically wiping away condensation before transfering to the fridge for storage. I didn't do this; hopefully my jam won't suffer for the missed step.

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¹ The original recipe called for cooking it over low heat, but after 35 minutes at low, the mixture still wasn't thickening up as much as I'd hoped, so I nudged it up to medium-low. After another 20 minutes at low, it still wasn't sliceably thick, but I was tired of standing over the pot, so I called it. I'm hoping that if I put it on medium-low from the get-go next time, I can get it to a reasonable consistency within the original 40 minute timeframe given. ^Back

Ube Waffles (Purple Yam Waffles)

I was looking for birthday cake ideas the other day and stumbled across a few recipes for ube cake. I liked the idea of an ube chiffon cake with coconut icing, but I ultimately decided that I'd rather have an Italian cream cake for my birthday. While I was looking at all the various cake configurations though, I also spotted this waffle recipe. It sounded intriguing enough that I couldn't resist giving it a try.

Since this is a new recipe and uses a few ingredients that I don't often bake with (ube and tapioca starch), I followed the recipe pretty closely this time. The only change I made was to swap out half the sugar for monk fruit sweetener (the kind with erythritol, so it's 1:1 with regualr sugar). So, these waffles are very not dietary. They are, however, quite delicious. The original recipe promised crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. We had a little trouble getting them to be nicely crispy outside, but they certainly delivered on the chewy on the inside aspect. (And the crispiness improved a bit once the waffle iron temperature was dialed up as well.)

I'd like to try making this with coconut milk in place of coconut cream at some point as that would go a long way toward making these waffles a bit healthier and less calorically dense. But if you're not counting calories or just want a fancy dessert waffle, then I feel like these would be an excellent choice. An ube waffle topped with mango ice cream and a bit of whipped coconut cream would make for an excellent, decadent, and visually striking dessert.

Ube Waffles

From Hungry Huy

Ingredients

• 134g thawed frozen grated ube/ube purée
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 tsp. ube extract
• 2 large eggs
• 385mL coconut cream
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 290g tapioca starch
• 73g rice flour¹
• 70g all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 200g sugar
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground

Directions

1. Whisk the ube, water, and ube extract together into a smooth mixture.
2. Mix in the eggs, coconut cream, and oil.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the tapioca starch, rice flour, all-purpose flour, and baking powder.
4. Mix the sugar and salt into the dry ingredients.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix to combine. Stir until just combined, but still lumpy.
6. Let the batter rest for 10-20 minutes.
7. Preheat your waffle iron to a slightly higher temperature than you normally use for waffles.
8. Cook waffles, but leave them in the waffle iron for an extra 20-30 seconds beyond what you normally would.
9. Transfer waffles to a rack after cooking so they can crisp up a bit more.
10. Serve with whipped coconut cream, fresh mango, mango ice cream, halo-halo, cream of coconut, and/or halaya jam.

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Variations

Lighter Ube Waffles (untested)

Ingredients

• 134g thawed frozen grated ube/ube purée
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 tsp. ube extract
• 2 large eggs
• 385mL coconut milk
• 1 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
• 290g tapioca starch
• 73g brown rice flour
• 70g whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 200g monk fruit sweetener with erythritol (or 1:1 sweetener of your choice)
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground

These changes should just about halve the WW Points cost of these waffles. They're still not dietary by any stretch, but they're at least a bit less reprehensible from a calorie standpoint if made this way.

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¹ NOT glutinous rice flour, just regular rice flour! I acutally used brown rice flour for mine. This seems to have worked nicely, so I might try swapping out the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour next time just to get a little extra fibre in and make these decadent waffles slightly healthier. ^Back

Another batch of fresh pasta and a second tiramisu left me with more egg whites to use up so, naturally, I made another pavlova. The last one was delicious, but I wanted to try out something different this time. My original plan had been to do a vanilla meringue topped with coconut yogurt, passionfruit, and peaches and mangoes. Unfortunately the grocery store was all out of passionfruit, so that plan was out the window. But I still had the mango and the egg whites to use up. TF suggested just doing the same pavlova minus the passionfruit, but it felt a little lacking to me so I went hunting for inspiration.

Most of the mango recipes that I found didn't really appeal to me, but I did hit upon a couple that paired mango with ube (purple yam). Now that sounded like a good idea! And I loved the look of the pretty purple meringues. Of couse, that required either ube powder, ube extract, or both, neither of which I had. What I did have though, was frozen grated ube.

Some quick Googling said that I should be able to dry out the frozen ube in the oven and then just grind it into a powder for baking. It meant adding an extra day of prep time to the pavlova while I waited for the yam to dry, but now I have a bowl of ube powder, so I'd say it was worth it!

Ube Pavlova

Inspired by some recipes I saw online, but not actually following any of them

Ingredients

• 6 large egg whites
• 330g sugar
• 2 Tbsp. ube powder
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour)
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (or ube extract if you have it)
• 8 drops blue food colouring (optional)
• 6 drops red food colouring (optional)
• 500g coconut Greek yogurt¹
• 1 ripe mango, peeled and sliced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 120°C (250°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Beat the egg whites until foamy and beginning to thicken.
3. Continue beating the egg whites while adding the sugar 1 Tbsp. at a time.
4. Add the ube powder and cornstarch 1 Tbsp. at a time while still beating.
5. Beat in the cream of tartar, then beat in the vanilla.
6. If you would like a stronger purple colour, beat in the food colouring at this point.
7. The meringue should be at the "stiff peak" stage by now. If not, continue beating until it forms stiff peaks. (This can take up to 10 minutes.)
8. Scoop the meringue out onto the prepared baking sheet and shape it into a thick disc with a deep depression in the middle.
9. Bake at 120°C (250°F) for 90 minutes.
10. When done, turn off the oven and leave the meringue in until completely cooled. (Overnight works well.)
11. Just before serving, top the meringue with the coconut yogurt and fresh mango. (Add a bit of toasted coconut as well if you'd like.)
12. Serve immediately!

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¹ I found the coconut to be the weakest component of this pavlova. I think next time I'd try making some sort of coconut-flavoured custard and garnishing with toasted coconut. ^Back