Passion fruit curd

   This little number has been causing quite a stir lately... it all started with rather excessive birthday celebrations throughout the month of January, one of which being a breakfast with 12 amazing girlfriends at my place. The amount of food we had was nothing short of decadent, not to mention the copious amounts of bubbly consumed - but you only turn 27 once, right?

After smoked salmon generously scattered with red onion and capers, crisp-toasted bagels brimming with thin slices of pastrami and a chunky tartare-style sauce, sinfully creamy oeufs en cocotte with ham, cheese and thyme-scented mushrooms and a refreshing fruit salad with ginger and mint you would think the ladies would gracefully skip dessert? Yeah, not MY friends... they know good food when they see it and happily indulge in it. That's why I love them!

So my friend Vera had agreed to bring dough for waffles and (wo)man the iron (champagne-glass in hand, of course) - and they sure were delicious... but (sorry, my dear!) it was a rather inconspicuous-looking kilner jar filled with a thick, yellow substance that completely stole the show. People had been having a hard time identifying its contents - was it my famous home-made mayo? or vanilla custard? - until someone finally was brave enough to stick their finger in. The "oh my God"s and ecstatic moaning that followed were undescribable... and I don't think I have ever had so many requests for a recipe before in my life - and not just that, some ladies actually resorted to hefty bribes!

Said kilner jar ended up in one of my friends' fridge and her seven-year old son licked it so clean it could have gone straight in the cupboard without washing. Since that day, this little guy has been following my elder son around at school, trying to talk him into inviting him to ours for a sleepover ("and tell your Mum to make that delicious thing she put on the waffles the other day") - Max being completely ignorant about the whole affair... he hasn't even tasted it, refusing to eat any sweets that don't have insane amounts of chocolate in them!

So here you have it. I am letting my secret out of the bag. We're talking curd here. Not the traditional lemon curd (which I also love), my version is made with passion fruit, one of my favourite, favourite fruits of all times. It alo involves a neat technique for removing the black seeds without losing most of the flesh and juice. So do read on, do try it - you'll be forever hooked like my friends here. A couple of eggs, some sugar and butter and the priced juice is all it takes... plus 15 minutes whisking in a bain marie - but no sweet without sweat, right?

Heavenly passion fruit curd
(Thermomix instructions included)

6 passion fruits
50 g butter
75 g fine caster sugar
2 large eggs

First, prepare a passion fruit puree. This method will make it easier and more efficient to separate the prized juice and flesh from the large seeds.
Cut the fruits in half and scopp the flesh into a small pot/milk pan. Gently bring to a simmer, immediately take off the heat and continue stirring for about 5 minutes.

Place a not-too-fine-meshed sieve over a bowl, pour in the passion fruit and pass the flesh through the mesh, retaining the seeds in the sieve. Discard seeds.

In a metal bowl, combine the passion fruit with the remaining ingredients. Whisk continuously and vigorously over simmering water until the curd has thickened. This should take about 15 minutes.

Thermomix instructions:
Make passion fruit puree as described above.
Place passion fruit and remaining ingredients in the TX bowl, insert butterfly whisk and cook at TX3/80C for about 8 minutes.

The amount of time needed for curd to thicken depends on the starting temperature of your ingredients, so add more time as required. The consistency should ressemble a thick custard.

Pour curd into a sterlilised jar. Keeps in the fridge for a good 3-4 weeks.

Enjoy on waffles, pancakes, on bread or brioche, use as a filling for swiss rolls and macarons... the possibilities are endless!

Comments

[Kit]

It looks scrummy, Johanna. And only six passion fruit needed which is a bonus as they're not cheap here and when I do buy them the girls usually gobble them up straight away!

[Amanda]

Wow it looks delicious! I had passion fruit buttercream on my wedding cake and it was heaven, but this would have added such a great kick. I must try it!

[Margaret]

I am surprised the fruit curd took only 6 passion fruit and the recipe doesn't sound too sweet. You have succeeded in tempting me.

[Pille]

Will you bring some along when you come to visit? Please, pretty? ;)

[Androxa.wordpress.com]

lemon curd and a mix of citrusjuices are my fav but ...this I am making on my next day off !!! :-) :-)

[Scott at Real Epicurean]

I've made this once before, a few years back (was it in a Nigella book?) and it was delicious.

Thanks for reminding me!

[johanna]

Scott, I wouldn't know, I have never owned nor cooked from a Nigella Lawson book... I have a lemon curd recipe for Thermomix which I follow and adapt according to my taste! i thought i was being pretty original using passion fruit, but it looks like the domestic goddess beat me too it ,-(

[Tessa]

Passion fruit curd, wow what bliss!

[MisterTruffle]

What a wonderful description of the reaction to your passion fruit curd! You have sold it to me, and I will be cooking this for my 52 ingredient challenge (www.food-love.com), as I've never actually cooked with Passion Fruit I can legitimately count it as a challenge food! Hurray!

[Kubełek Smakowy]

I am absolutely in love with curd... I didn't try that one, but I strongly belive it's as tasty as orange or lemon!

[Nancy]

This looks fantastic, Johanna! How did you come up with this? I just found your blog this afternoon and I'm blown away by your creations! What other ingredients have you used in your curd?

[Joshua Fagans]

Recently discovered passion fruit curd myself. I made a parfait with a caramel pudding and it was an amazing combo!

[Cat]

thanks for sharing this! we will have an aweful amount of passion fruits soon and i had absolutely no idea what to do with them...
sounds great!

[Sailu]

Chanced upon your beautiful blog today. Wonder how I missed it. :)

[Pamela Hester]

Thank you dear! In SoCal passion fruit grows like a weed with hardly any water, so a few years ago I planted the whole back wall to cover the fence in vines. Last year the vines gave me about 70 fruits and I couldn't eat them fast enough. Now this years harvest won't go to waste and guess what my friends are getting for Christmas! At my afternoon teas I will serve it with crumpets, clotted cream and a small nip of creme sherry.

[johanna]

Wow... You are very lucky indeed! I wish I had passion fruit in my backyard...or the balcony in my case! Had one in London but for obvious reasons the fruit never ripened!
All the best

J

Sent from my iPhone

[betty]

wow id love to make this with my yummy crepes (which i have recently perfected yay!)