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Oolong Tea Flan With Brown Sugar Caramel

By Rahanna Bisseret Martinez
Oolong flan on a plate with one spoonful removed.
Photo by Ed Anderson

Flan traditionally has a custardy base with a thin but rich caramel on top, and this recipe is no different. One of my favorite parts of this recipe is the steaming technique. Steaming the flan was inspired by the Chinese method of steaming savory egg custard. Normally, flan would go into a water bath in a hot oven for around an hour. But a water bath can end with hot water splashing onto your hands as you stressfully try to maneuver the flan out of the oven. In this recipe, the flan steams on the stovetop for only 15 minutes, taking down the cooking time drastically. 

Another difference is the brown sugar, which caramelizes faster and at a lower temperature than natural cane or granulated sugar. Oolong tea is a slightly fermented Chinese tea that falls in between green and black. Make sure you’re buying a darker oolong, as one labeled as green oolong will have too light a flavor. The oolong from Yamamotoyama works and is easy to find.

This recipe was excerpted from ‘Flavor+Us' by Rahanna Bisseret Martinez, one of the our top cookbooks of 2023. Buy the full book on Amazon.

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