Halo halo

Credit: Feast magazine

• serves

  8

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  1:30 hour

• difficulty

  Ace

Ingredients

• 340 g jar bananas in syrup (see Note)
• 190 g (⅔ cup) seeded jackfruit flesh (see Note)
• 180 g (¾ cup) drained sweet white beans (see Note)
• 340 g jar drained nata de coco (see Note)
• 120 g (½ cup) sugar palm seeds (sweet kaong) (see Note)
• 300 g (3 cups) crushed ice
• 375 ml can evaporated milk
• maraschino cherries, to serve

Purple yam ice-cream

• 330 g (1½ cups) caster sugar
• 125 ml (½ cup) milk
• 500 ml (2 cups) thickened cream
• 450 g ube halaya (puréed purple yam) (see Note)

Leche flan

• 110 g (½ cup) caster sugar
• 8 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 375 ml can evaporated milk
• 395 g can condensed milk
• 4 drops lemon essence

Pandan jelly

• 1 tbsp powdered gelatine
• 220 g (1 cup) caster sugar
• 1 tsp pandan flavouring (see Note)

Refrigerate pandan jelly for up to 2 weeks. Freeze yam ice-cream for up to 1 month. Start this recipe a day ahead.

Freezing time overnight

Chilling time 4 hours

Instructions

To make ice-cream, combine sugar, milk and cream in a pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Add yam and cook, stirring, for 20 minutes or until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing to extract liquid. Discard solids. Cover surface with plastic wrap, cool, then chill for 45 minutes or until cold. Churn in an ice-cream maker until frozen. Transfer to an airtight container and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze overnight or until firm. Makes 1 litre.

To make flan, preheat oven to 160°C. Place sugar and 60 ml water in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, to dissolve sugar. Increase heat to medium, bring to the boil and cook, without stirring, for 10 minutes or until syrup is dark golden and reaches 175°C on a sugar thermometer. Pour into a greased round 1.5 litre ovenproof dish and tilt quickly to coat evenly with caramel. Place in a deep roasting pan. Cool caramel.

Meanwhile, place remaining ingredients in a bowl and lightly whisk until just combined, taking care not to aerate the mixture. Pour this custard mixture over the caramel. Fill roasting pan with enough boiling water to reach halfway up the side of the custard dish. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 50 minutes or until custard is set but still slightly wobbly. Carefully remove dish from water bath and cool. Refrigerate until cold.

To make jelly, scatter gelatine over 100 ml boiling water in a jug. Whisk with a fork until dissolved. Place sugar and 400 ml water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook stirring, until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Add pandan flavouring and gelatine mixture. Strain. Grease and line a loaf pan with baking paper, extending paper beyond the rim of the pan. Pour jelly mixture into pan and refrigerate for 4 hours or until set. Remove from pan and cut into 1 cm cubes. Refrigerate until needed. Makes 500 ml.

Combine bananas, jackfruit, beans, nata de coco, palm seeds and the pandan jelly. Chop the flan into cubes and divide among glasses with the fruit mixture. Top each glass with 3 scoops yam ice-cream, ⅓ cup crushed ice, some evaporated milk and a cherry, to serve.

Note

• Bananas in syrup are from Filipino food shops; substitute ripe banana. Jackfruit, sweet white beans, nata de coco (fermented coconut water jelly), sugar palm seeds, ube halaya and pandan flavouring are available from Asian food shops. Jackfruit is available fresh or canned. Use either for this recipe.

Photography by Brett Stevens.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.