Skip to main content
Epicurious
Cookbooks

Oolong Tea Flan With Brown Sugar Caramel

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.

What you’ll need

See Related Recipes and Cooking Tips

Read More
Dulce de Leche
Make this versatile caramel at home with our slow-simmered method using milk and sugar—or take one of two sweetened condensed milk shortcuts.
Fufu
Fufu is a dish that has been passed down through many generations and is seen as a symbol of Ghanaian identity and heritage. Making fufu traditionally is a very laborious task; this recipe mimics some of that hard work but with a few home-cook hacks that make for a far easier time.
Île Flottante
Originally called omelette à la neige (snow omelet) in reference to the fluffy snow-like appearance of the meringue, île flottante (floating island) has a lengthy history that dates back to the 17th century.
Hong Kong Egg Scramble
“Soft and pillowy, custardy and light—they were unlike any other scrambled eggs I had experienced before.”
XO Sauce
Developed in the 1980s by a chef in Hong Kong, this sauce is all about umami.
Black Sesame Tofu “Basque” Cheesecake
There are many things that appeal about a Basque cheesecake—it's crustless (one less job) and is meant to look “rustic” with its wrinkled and jagged sides.
Rotisserie Chicken Congee
Leftover rotisserie chicken finds new purpose in this endlessly comforting dish.
Palets Bretons
Palets bretons are oversize cookies that feature butter, and because they’re from Brittany, they’re traditionally made with beurre salé, salted butter.