RECIPE - Passion Fruit Curd (Coalhada de Maracujá)

This recipe for passion fruit curd, made in the style of English lemon curd, isn't Brazilian at all, though it could be. That's why I think it deserves a place here at Flavors of Brazil. For if passion fruit (maracujá in Portuguese) isn't a Brazilian flavor, then I don't know what is. Besides, as regular readers of the blog know, I'm wild about any food that includes passion fruit - including this one.

I happened across it while bouncing around the web the other day in a beautiful Australian blog called Almost Bourdain. It would make sense that an Aussie food blog would have just such a passion fruit recipe, as the fruit grows there as well as it does in Brazil and passion fruit is an authentic Australian passion - think of Pavlova without passion fruit; it just doesn't make it, does it? In the blog post, the original recipe is credited to an Australian cookbook called bills open kitchen, by Bill Granger.

I have translated the recipe title into Portuguese just to make it look a bit more Brazilian. But true-Brazilian or not, I have a feeling that readers of Flavors of Brazil will love it.

Note: If fresh passion fruits are not available in your area, check the freezer section of your local gourmet supermarket or health food store. You might find frozen passion fruit pulp, and it works very well in this recipe.
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RECIPE - Passion Fruit Curd (Coalhada de Maracujá)

4 whole eggs, free-range if possible
1 cup (250 ml) passion fruit pulp, fresh or frozen
2/3 cup (150 gr) superfine (caster) sugar
5 oz (120 gr) unsalted butter, softened
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Place the eggs, fruit pulp and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure that the bowl doesn't touch the water. Cook for 7 or 8 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the sugar has dissolved completely and the mixture has thickened . Remove from the heat, then whisk in the butter gradually, a bit at a time, until the mixture is completely homogenous. Let cool completely.

If not using immediately, store in the refrigerator.