SALTED CARAMEL CREAMED WALNUT
EXCUSE ME, YO MAMA’S BEST HOT COCOA-WHO?!
OVER the past couple days, the temperature has, all of a sudden, dropped below 0ºC.
This is the fourth… wait… fifth winter? That we’re spending behind The Black Gate in Beijing, but I can’t complain. Because from what it sounds like, my friends in the Shire New York are now ambushed in a thick, immobilizing blanket of snow. There’s no doubt. Winter is coming has come (and that I watch too much TV).
Usually, I’m not a hot beverage-kind of person, unless it’s designed as a mere vessel for shooting up caffeines and artificial wills to carry on the days. But this year, after what seems like an unending series of unfortunate events, I feel like I may need more liquid assets to power through the next 4 months of seasonal depressants. So instead of beheading neighbour’s snowman as a general practice, I decided it’s healthier to turn my attention to a long neglected recipe that I’ve sticky-posted for too many passing winters, a Hong Kong classic – creamed walnut. Cantonese loves drinking nuts and grains. Black sesame, barley, peanuts, almonds… you name it. The less “drinkable” it sounds, the more it’s fucking drank. And before your skepticism kicks in, you should note that for a culture that’s generally regarded as a major and sophisticated branch of Chinese cuisine, they do not do such silly things for no reason ? These creamy blends of nuts and grains are, as a matter of fact, incredibly delicious as dessert “soups”, a nutritious answer to hot chocolates.
While the idea of blending deeply toasted walnuts and rice may sound strange to some, this “conscious coupling” of warm, silky and smooth body flowing with an impossibly deep and toasty nuttiness will have you scream, excuse me but, yo mama’s best hot cocoa-who?! Traditionally sweetened with rock sugar but since I’m bad, why not salted caramel, this recipe kind of taste like… a mildly sweetened drinking toffee nut. It kind of taste like… a warm hug from a teddy bear blanket. It kind of taste like… rubbing Rudolph’s ears… high-fiving Santa. It kind of taste like… shit, whatever gibberish you need to hear to try this.
Because, it really is good.
The traditional way of making creamed walnut soup is by blending walnuts, and raw rice that’s been soaking for hours as thickening agent. But for the life of me I just don’t understand why, when there’s perfectly capable cooked rice (which we all at some point have in the fridge), or ready-to-use store-bought rice flours to use. Blended cooked rice thickens just as good, as rice flour after being cooked, and in a recipe where the focus isn’t really on the rice (whereas this one is), I’d rather save some soaking time. If you are using cooked rice, choose a short-grain variety, and NOT the long-grain basmati or Thai jasmine.
This recipe requires the walnuts to be roasted a bit longer than usual, to draw out the deep/nutty flavour. The skins will become quite bitter as they brown and will probably not be palatable if they’re for snacking, but it’s ok here because I found the bitterness doesn’t really translate into the soup. Just make sure you turn them frequently to avoid burning.
This recipe will land on the lightly-sweetened side of things. Adjust with more light brown sugar at the end if you prefer.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (90 grams) raw walnuts
- 3 tbsp (38 grams) granulated sugar + 2 tsp water
- 1/4 + 1/8 tsp sea salt, plus 1 more pinch to adjust
- 2 1/2 cups (595 grams/ml) water
- 1/2 loosely packed cup (70 grams) cooked short-grain rice (NOT basmati or jasmine rice), or 2 1/2 tbsp (20 grams) white rice flour
- 2~3 tbsp evaporated milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven on 375F/190C. Scatter the walnuts on a baking-sheet then roast in the oven, turning every 5 min, for 13~15 min until browned.
- Meanwhile, combine sugar and 2 tsp of water in a pot over medium heat. Swirl occasionally and cook until the sugar starts to smoke and turns into a light amber color, then turn off the heat. NOTE that the sugar will continue to darken as it sits in the hot pot, so we want to stop before it gets to the desired shade. If it looks like your caramel is getting too dark/burnt, add a tbsp of water to halt the cooking. Add the sea salt and set aside.
- Combine the roasted walnuts, water, and cooked short-grain rice (if your rice is cold from the fridge, splash with some water and heat up in the microwave to ensure it blends smoothly) OR white rice flour in a blender. Blend on high for at least 2 min until smoothly pureed. Then transfer to the pot with salted caramel through an EXTRA fine sieve. Stir with a spoon to help all the liquid pass through, but don't press on the solids too hard. Whatever that doesn't pass through, discard.
- Return the pot on medium-low heat. Stirring constantly, scraping the hardened caramel on the bottom of the pot, and simmer for 6~7 min until the caramel has completely melted and the mixture is thickened. This simmering process is important for deepening the nutty flavour so don't skip.
- Add 2~3 tbsp of evaporated milk, and add more sugar and 1 more pinch of sea salt if needed. Serve immediately, or store in the fridge and reheat before serving.
Notes
You can also simply sweetened the creamed walnut with equivalent amount of yellow rock sugar, or light brown sugar, as how it's traditionally done.
Don't substitute with cornstarch as thickening agent. Cornstarch looses its thickening power during stirring and reheating.
Winter is, when you check your photographs and realized how woodsy your hands are…. jeez….
DAVID
12.03.2014at7:27 PMSweet nut milk. Never is NOT funny.
Belinda@themoonblushbaker
12.03.2014at8:05 PMYou are not alone with woody hands, that why no photo shoot for mine! I have to giggle every time someone mentions “nut milk”; so sweet nut milk has me in fits of laughter. Heres to being immature and your silky nut milk.
mandy@ladyandpups
12.03.2014at8:21 PMBelinda: It’s more accurate to call these “sweet loosened nut butter”. Which is equally hilarious….
Mary
12.03.2014at10:15 PMOh man, I could really use some sweet loosened nut butter right now! Really, this sounds awesome.
cynthia
12.03.2014at11:39 PMWords cannot express how delicious this sounds (innuendo and all) and how much I want it. Oh my gosh. Just dreamy. (Even with the casualty of your poor hat….) And bahaha your hands look lovely! Plus, that peek of jade made me smile :)
kimithy
12.04.2014at12:17 AMI had to “solve” the spam-beater math problem on my hands. Oy :( Anyhoo, I laughed aloud at your “woodsy hands” comment. I’ve had many such moments going through my own photos, which ended in frantic lotioning/oiling and whining out loud to my partner “Do you SEE MY HANDS!? How do you let these wrinkly beasts touch you? Why do I have old lady hands?! Is the rest of me wrinkly and I haven’t noticed?! SIGHHHHHH WHIIIINE…oh who gives a shit nevermind”.
Liz B. @ Umami Life
12.04.2014at1:06 AMYou’ve got to be kidding me. I would drink this through a straw! AMAZING!
http://thatumamilife.wordpress.com – a clean eating bento blog in wine country, CA.
Rebecca@Figs and Pigs
12.04.2014at2:46 AMYes this looks bloody amazing! I love reading your posts, I follow a lot of blogs which are all amazing, but I really do love your words.
Allison (Spontaneous Tomato)
12.04.2014at3:20 AMThis sounds completely delicious. I’m not really that big of a hot chocolate fan anyway, but I’m sure I’d love this — seems like there’s no comparison! :)
maya
12.04.2014at9:17 AMtotally floored me with that martha/gwyn ref, LOL
this looks so good i’m about to bounce out of bed at 3am right now to make this. but i should probably wait till morning like most civilized people would do.
Charlie (Chockywoky)
12.04.2014at11:22 AMOhMyLawd – These are AMAZING Mandy! Can’t wait to try making this. Are they more like the peanut 豆浆 (sorry, I forgot the real name), or the thick sesame paste (for dessert)?
mandy@ladyandpups
12.04.2014at2:29 PMCharlie: It’s more thickened like the sesame paste/drink.
Janice
12.04.2014at11:59 AMMandy, you are brilliant. Thanks for your prose (and all posts), for your humor, recipes, and this delicious ‘ingeniously sweetened warm nut drink’.
Becky @ displacedhousewife.com
12.04.2014at2:33 PMI’m loving the two posters David & Belinda. Nut milk. Giggles. It look delicious!!
Sofia
12.04.2014at11:21 PMThank goodness for coming to the rescue saying we can use cooked rice… I had never ever seen this drink and boy has it spiked my interest. Will definitely be giving it a try. Sure, theres no snow here but I’m one of those fragile people where with any bit of cold, I’m frozen.
tunie
12.05.2014at1:51 AMReminds me of amazake but ingeniously different! Also sounds like it might be worth trying out as an alternative direction to take for egg nog…Thank you!
Melissa @ Treats With a Twist
12.05.2014at10:26 AMI see we’re team Martha? ;) Love.
I’m laughing at the moment from reading previous comments. Cracks me up.
I’m all about the nut drinks. Totally into it!
Aysegul - Ice
12.12.2014at8:24 AMOh my! This sounds so so delicious.
Trish
12.15.2014at1:27 PMDude. You had me at the title. No need for Xmas gibberish (although rubbing Rudolph’s ears…. heh), I’m SOLD! This sounds incredible.
Trish
Tee
01.05.2015at3:55 AMThis recipe sounded so interesting, I just had to try it. As I am not a fan of walnuts I used hazelnuts, which worked perfectly. This is serious comfort in a cup, especially during these cold winter days. Thank you Mandy!
Angela
01.30.2015at7:35 PMHow much salted caramel does the recipe roughly use? I have some salted caramel sitting in a jar that I made earlier, and I’d like to use that instead of making some more for this recipe.
mandy@ladyandpups
01.30.2015at9:09 PMAngela: It depends on the saltiness of your walnuts. I would use the same amount of walnuts, but reduce the salt in the recipe to adapt. Perhaps you don’t need any additional salt anymore.
Gary
12.14.2015at9:03 AMSalted caramel with walnuts sounds so delicious. But can you substitute walnuts for other nuts?
mandy@ladyandpups
12.14.2015at2:08 PMGary, walnut is the classic choice, but perhaps cashews would work too.