Last week I penned an ode to the excellent pasteles at the Freakin Rican in Astoria, a rare new-ish entry into the city’s dwindling community of Puerto Rican restaurants. Though really, I could have written as many words about one of chef Derick Lopez’s fine other dishes, from the sugary batidos — frothy milk shakes spun from fragrant guava or guanabana — to the jiggly coconut custard.
I’ve been thinking a lot about that latter dish, which is known as tembleque, and which costs $4.50.
I like to think of it as Puerto Rican panna cotta, made with cornstarch instead of gelatin. The pudding wobbles so intensely that it almost seems as if the coconut milk is about to spill out all over the plate, but it never does. The light dessert, which puts up only a touch more resistance than Jell-O, exudes a whiff of cinnamon and a nice punch of tropical fruit.
