South American Cuisine
Manjar blanco
Manjar blanco is a custard of milk, vanilla and sugar that is simmered until thick, rich and caramelised. It is a traditional sweet enjoyed daily throughout South America – as a filling for pastries, the sweet centre of alfajor biscuits and tejas (filled chocolates) or simply enjoyed on its own as a dessert – one devotee of this recipe described it as ‘pan-scrapingly good'!
Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
1 litre full-cream milk
230 g white sugar
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 vanilla bean, split
50 g brown sugar
30 g liquid glucose
Preparation
Heat the butter, a quarter of the milk, the white sugar, bicarbonate of soda and vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture starts turning a caramel colour. Add another quarter of milk and the brown sugar. Continue stirring. When the mixture starts thickening, add another quarter of milk. As it thickens again, add the remaining milk and the glucose, turn down the heat and continue stirring until the custard is thick enough for you to see the bottom of the saucepan when you move the spoon through it, or until a little custard put on a plate doesn’t run. The custard cooks for approximately 40 minutes in total. Remove from the heat and keep stirring for a few minutes before pouring into a bowl.
SBS 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.
South American Restaurants
Displaying 10 of 43 South American Restaurants.
| Restaurant | Suburb | |
| 1. | Sporting Club Hotel | Brunswick |
| 2. | Brazilian Touch Restaurant & Bar | Milton |
| 3. | Enris Restaurant | Hawthorn |
| 4. | BlueFire Churrascaria Grill & Bar | Docklands |
| 5. | Bodega | Surry Hills |
| 6. | El Gaucho | Fitzroy North |
| 7. | Favela | Potts Point |
| 8. | Fiesta on Oxford | Bondi Junction |
| 9. | Churrasco | Coogee |
| 10. | LuLo | Hawthorn |
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