Help me make good tahini custard.

December 16, 2007 6:01 PM

I am trying to replicate a recipe for vegan/macrobiotic tahini custard from Masao's Kitchen. I have tried a bunch of recipes but none come close. The original holds its shape well, but has a nice mushy custard feel, with all of this sweet syrup/juice around it. Does anyone have any good recipes for tahini custard that comes close to this?

The recipes I tried pretty much all include tahini, water, apple juice, agar agar, maple syrup, some times lemon juice or lemon zest, salt, sometimes soy milk. I believe Masao's is just tahini, apple juice, agar agar, maple syrup and salt. Nothing I try has the right taste or texture. I also don't get any syrupy goodness. Help?

posted by laminarial to Food & Drink (3 answers total)

When I think of macrobiotic pudding, I think of kudzu. Agar Agar would give you something more like jello or aspic.
posted by alms at 6:19 PM on December 16, 2007

I think you need to use both agar and kuzu/arrowroot, the agar gels and the kuzu/arrowroot creates the creamy texture. It takes a bit of experimentation to get the texture right. There is a good explanation of the agar/kuzu dance in the Voluptuous Vegan by Myra Kornfeld

I once pretty much pried the ingredients out of old Masao but have forgotten now what he told me. I pestered him for years to put his recipes down one at a time in cook book fashion on laminated cards that could be put in a binder, selling for three to five dollars apiece.
posted by flummox at 7:43 PM on December 16, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks for the advice flummox. Luckily, Voluptuous Vegan is one of the (way too many) cookbooks I have. If Masao made a cookbook, I would buy one, or two or three... His crispy seitan is just too amazing.
posted by laminarial at 8:44 PM on December 16, 2007