Mmmm... Purin

Purin is basically Japanese flan.  It's an egg custard with burnt sugar on the bottom.  I've never made flan before but I think the difference is that purin is a little lighter than flan and is made in individual cups. 

It's delicious.

Ingredients (to make 4 servings, though I usually do a batch an a half)
2 cups milk
8 tbs sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt

6 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons water

First you need to prepare the molds and the oven.  I use small coffee mugs for the molds.  Anything that can be put in the oven will work.  Spray the bottoms with a little bit of oil and set aside.  Place a jelly roll pan (or whatever flat pan with sides you have) in the oven with a half inch of water.  Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Now you make the burnt sugar sauce.  (This is the best part.)  Put the 6 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tbs of water into a small saucepan over medium high heat.  Dissolve the sugar in the water and let it come to a boil.  Let the sugar boil until all the water has evaporated out and the sugar is bubbling away.  You'll know when this happens because the bubbles will start to sound like glass.  Really cool.  Prepare a tbs. of water to keep handy next to you.  Stir the sugar occasionally and it'll start to turn brown and smell burnt.  Make sure you watch it closely for this part.  Just as it gets to a nice shade of darkish brown, add the small amount of water next to you.  It will be angry and hiss and bubble and maybe scare you.  But be strong, stand back and show it who's boss.  (Don't forget this part, it can lead to disaster if you don't add any water or add too much.  1 tbs, that's all she wrote.)  Stir in the water then divide the sauce up into the 6 molds you prepared.  There should only be enough for a few spoonfulls in each cup.

Now the egg part.  Easy peasy.  Put the milk into a saucepan and put it on low heat.  You just want it warm enough to melt the sugar.  While that's going, crack the eggs into a separate bowl and beat it for a bit.  Stir the sugar, salt, and vanilla into the milk.  Making sure that the milk is just warm and not hot, slowly add the milk to the eggs and whisk together.

Now check the sugar mixture before adding the egg mixture into the molds.  If the sugar is too runny, pouring the eggs/milk in will just mix 'em up and then you'll lose your awesome sauce that you risked your life to make.  Put the molds in the 'fridge if they're too runny.  Divide the egg mixture into your cups/molds.

Now put the molds into the oven on their nice jelly roll pan jacuzzi and bake for 35-40 minutes.  Chill, and try not to eat them all in one sitting!

The mugs that no one uses are happy today.

You can put it on a plate or eat it right out of the cup like I do...

P.S.  If you don't trust me, (I'm not offended if you don't) you can check out how this person makes purin.  It's similar but she might describe it better and has nicer pictures.