Purple Yam Pudding/Spread - a Holiday fave

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Ube Halaya / Jalea de Ube or Purple Yam Pudding (similar to taro but not different [WIKI]) is a usual holiday fave in Philippines. You can find this anywhere in the country but I don't like them much coz most of the commercialized ones are too sweet so I prefer them home-made.

I made this with my mom earlier for the traditional Noche Buena (Christmas eve feast), which caused my shoulders and hands to ache the whole day LOL (you'll find out why on cut ^^;; ).





Ingredients:
800g-1kg ube/purple yams (in the US, I heard that they sell it packaged and already grated)
1/4-1/2 kg sugar (depends on how sweet you want it)
2cups coconut milk
1cup evaporated milk (or add another or two cup if you don't have coconut milk)
1/2 cup glutinous rice powder (optional)
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1tsp purple food color (optional - just if you want it in deeper color coz some yams don't have pure purple color like that in the second pic)




Instructions:

1. Boil purple yam until cooked (just like you boil sweet potatoes). Don't overcook or it'll be harder to peel the skin. Use a fork to check on the core. Drain from water.
2. Peel the skin and grate it or mash the way you do mashed potatoes until smooth. (this actually is a hard part already ^^)
3. Add all the other ingredients. Stir until all ingredients blend with the grated yams.
4. Put in a wok or a non-stick pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thick and sticky. (the hardest part coz it doesn't easily get thick; my shoulders feel like falling off. My mom and niece took their turns too XD)
5. Transfer ixture into a mold or container or just spread it on a baking pan and let cool.
6. Refrigerate for at least half an hour, then serve.  This can last for two weeks to less than a month inside the fridge.

This is how it looks like when grated (left). I mashed it by hand afterwards to make it really smooth. The white powder on the top of the yams (right pic) is the powdered glutinous rice to make it more thick but the yams will stick get thick even without it.



It will look like this afterwards(left). It's more pale (right pic) if you don't use food coloring but that depends on the purple yams.


If the one you made is not thick, don't worry.  As long as it's cooked, it can still be used for a variety of other recipes. Earlier, I added it in my fruit cocktail and it really adds great flavor to it plus some grated cheddar cheese. Or it can be used as a spread over your left-over breads and fillings for your newly-baked breads or steamed buns or cake rolls. Or even toppings for your cupcakes! *drools*

(Saw these great pics randomly on google XD)



But this is my favorite - Ube bread bar. I used to buy this before but when I found out that bakeries fake the filling with colored sweet potatoes, I was so disappointed and stopped buying. LOL  But it's actually easy to do. Just roll any hard bread you have on the purple yam spread then roll over/sprinkle powdered sugar or grated coconut. (I have to stop looking at the pics or I'd crave for it again ;P )



Happy Holidays!