My Ultimate Pudding

Directions

1. 1
   Bring the ingredients to a boil in a small pot to make the caramel sauce.
2. 2
   Once it starts to form large bubbles, has a good fragrance, and a nice color, stop the heat.
3. 3
   Add a tablespoon of boiling water to loosen up the caramel (it'll splatter so please be careful).
4. 4
   Pour into the cups (to make good use of the caramel left in the pot why not make caramel milk tea?.
5. 5
   Put water into your steamer and begin to boil.
6. 6
   Add the milk and sugar to a pot and heat to melt together.
7. 7
   Once it's about 40 C or so (bath water temperature) stop the heat.
8. 8
   Break the egg into a bowl, add the vanilla extract and rum and mix together.
9. 9
   Add the milk from step 5 to the bowl from step 6 and mix together quickly.
10. 10
    Add the pudding liquid back to the pot from step 7 while straining it.
11. 11
    Pour the pudding mixture into eight cups.
12. 12
    Place in your steamer (steam will rise up upon opening so be careful).
13. 13
    Use chopsticks or something to wedge the lid open (this keeps the pudding from getting porous).
14. 14
    Steam on medium heat for 3 or 4 minutes.
15. 15
    Once the top has firmed up stop the heat (use chopsticks to tap the top, and if it jiggles, it's okay.
16. 16
    If it's still watery, not yet).
17. 17
    Close the lid and let steam with the remaining heat for 10 minutes.
18. 18
    It's okay if you can stick a toothpick in the center and it stays.
19. 19
    If it falls over, heat on low heat for a minute and try the test again.
20. 20
    It's best if you can keep the toothpick upright even if you tip the container sideways.
21. 21
    You might think it's a bit loose, but it'll stiffen a bit upon cooling.
22. 22
    Cover with a damp towel and allow to cool.
23. 23
    Once cooled, wrap and refrigerate.
24. 24
    Serve chilled.
25. 25
    I adjusted the recipe by reducing the sugar and pudding caramel by 10 g, and reducing the steaming heat from strong to medium.