Maja Blanca is one of the famous Philippine desserts, it is made out of coconut milk, corn and cornstarch not sure how this originated but basing on its name it is definitely of Spanish origin, it may have been invented when the Philippines was still under control of the Spanish Colonial Government as the name is purely Spanish where “Maja” means to pound, grind, mash or reduce to pulp while “Blanca” means white. The name itself closely defines the food and how it is made because during that period the coconut meat is ground and pounded to extract the coconut milk. There are also some variations of this recipe but the basic ones are just using coconut milk and cornstarch, other add corn kernels (Maja Mais) and I even saw some variations that placed ground nuts.
3 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 large can Evaporated Milk (370 ml)
3/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup sugar
3/4 cups whole corn kernel
3/4 cup creamed corn
- Combine 2 cups coconut milk, evaporated milk, cornstarch, sugar, corn kernels and creamed corn in a mixing bowl and stir thoroughly; it should be free of lumps
- Place in a large sauce pan and cook while stirring constantly over low heat until thick, this will take around 25 minutes.
- Pour into small mould containers. Cool, then refrigerate until firm.
- In a separate sauce pan add the remaining coconut milk then boil, simmer in medium heat until it starts to become coconut oil, at this point lower the heat and continue stirring until latik forms, that’s the brown residue that forms when oil is separated from the liquid. Continue until no liquid is left apart from the oil. Separate oil and residue (latik).
- Once maja is stiff, slice in cubes then top each with latik.