Netflix’s Makanai: Geishas love bread pudding

Recipe: Kiyo's caramel bread pudding for one

In this post, I’m pulling together a recipe for the caramel bread pudding featured at the end of Makanai Episode 3. Because folks seem to be interested in recipes from this new Netflix Japanese drama, I will do a couple of posts on the foods featured in the series over the next several weeks.

Kiyo’s bread pudding from Episode 3 of Makanai

There aren’t many recipes for Japanese bread pudding on the Internet. However, there are a lot for the extremely popular Japanese caramel custard pudding, known as purin in Japan. So I combined a bread pudding recipe that uses shokupan–aka milk bread–with the caramel syrup from a purin recipe. The result is a dish that is faithful to what was in the series and easy to make with ingredients that you probably have on hand.

The Story

Makanai is about geishas and food. Two teenagers set off to Kyoto to become maikos (apprentice geishas). One of them, Sumire, is prodigiously talented and could be the geisha GOAT of her generation. The other, Kiyo, is a total washout as a maiko, but she’s a marvelous cook. She stays as the makanai (staff cook) for the maikos and supervisors living in the house. 

In Episode 3, Tsurukoma, the maiko who wears glasses, lets out a shriek because someone has eaten her supply of caramel pudding. Apparently, she buys several containers of pudding at a time at the local convenience store so that she can have one every day. 

“The only reason I’m able to endure the morning lessons and ozashiki at night is because I know my caramel pudding is waiting for me at the yakata,” she wails. 

Because maiko rules say she can’t go into a store with her hair done up geisha style, Girl with Glasses will have to wait five days until she can take her hair down and get her pudding. 

We hear nothing more about her pudding plight until the end of the episode when she walks into the kitchen one day for breakfast. She isn’t very hungry so she thinks maybe she wants only some toast. Kiyo waves the last slice of bread in the bag and starts whipping up something way better than toast while Tsurukoma talks poignantly about missing her little sister back home.  

When the dish comes out of the oven, Tsurukoma dives into it and exclaims how fluffy it is. After a few mouthfuls, she excitedly proclaims that it tastes like caramel. 

“I guess it was karma that my pudding was gone,” she says between bites. “I get to eat this delicious caramel pudding now.” 

The Food

There were some challenges in adapting this recipe for a Western kitchen and tastes. First of all, Kiyo uses milk bread. Much of the bread for sale in an Asian bakery will be some form of milk bread. It’s soft and fluffy with a hint of sweetness, but firmer than an American brand like Wonder Bread. 

I bought some milk bread at a Korean bakery, where the owner told me that in Korea they call the pre-sliced stuff “toast bread.” Of course, it’s more expensive than Wonder Bread–mine cost $5.00 for a one-pound loaf. At H Mart or another Asian grocery store, it would have been marked up more. 

Milk bread makes excellent toast. It can also be used for savory sandwiches (like egg salad) or fruit sandwiches.

Fortunately, you can use any kind of soft white bread with this recipe and get similar results. In addition to the milk bread, I made this with white bread from a grocery store bakery and Butternut Bread, which is the Chicago equivalent of Wonder Bread, and both versions were very good. Challah or brioche bread would also be excellent here. 

The next issue was the oven. They don’t have full size ovens in most Japanese homes. The one in Makanai was probably a combination of a microwave and convection oven. My oven has a convection setting, but I stuck with the conventional setting. However, a convection oven browns food better so in order to get my bread pudding nicely toasted like Kiyo’s, I had to pop my dish under the broiler for a minute. 

There are also different expectations of what bread pudding should taste like. The shot of the Kiyo’s finished product definitely has a lot of custard showing. However, my husband thought my early attempts were too much like a soufflé. That’s why I give a range of 1/3 to 1/2 cups of whole milk in the recipe. Want it custardy? Go with 1/2 cup. Want it bready? Do 1/3. Both are delicious.

Recipe notes: 

• My milk bread weighed 33 grams a slice, which is about 25 percent more than the other white breads that I used. So if you use regular white bread, you may want to use a slice and a half.

2. The caramel topping was the trickiest part for me because it’s really caramel syrup, not a sauce with butter or cream. The first time, it turned out fine, but I wanted to see if I could make it thicker or taste more like a piece of Werther’s caramel candy. After many failed attempts and almost setting my microwave on fire, I concluded that I couldn’t do either.

   Don’t look away when you’re making the syrup because once it starts to turn yellow, golden brown will follow very quickly.

The syrup should be a dark brown. However, it is better to pull the pan off the heat too early (still very good) than too late (a sticky solid or burnt).

Under no circumstances should you try to make caramel sauce in a microwave. This was the best tutorial I read about the process of caramelizing sugar.

This is what happened when I followed the directions of Cook’s Illustrated to caramelize sugar in a microwave. The Pyrex cup cracked.

If you make this recipe, please leave a message in the comments or send me an email. I’m dying to know how it turned for you. 

My version of Kiyo’s bread pudding

Kiyo’s Caramel Bread Pudding for One 

Serves: 1 (maybe 2)

I adapted this recipe from Kitchen Princess Bamboo’s recipe for Orange Shokupan, and Tiffy Cook’s Japanese Caramel Custard Pudding - Purin.  

Ingredients: 

   Bread pudding

• 1 egg

• 1 tbsp of sugar

• 1/3 to 1/2 cup of whole milk  1/3 cup will be more bready, 1/2 cup more custardy.

• ½ tsp of vanilla extract

• 1 slice of milk bread, approx. 33 grams Any soft white bread will work.

Caramel Syrup 

• 3 tbsp of sugar 

• 3 tbsp of water 

• 3 tbsp of HOT water 

Instructions - Bread Pudding: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Cut the bread into four strips. Cut each strip into quarters.

3. Whisk egg and sugar together in a small bowl.

4. Add in whole milk and vanilla.  Mix well. 

5. Add the bread and let it soak up the custard. Be sure the crusts get submerged.

6. Pour into an 8- or 10-ounce baking dish, and bake for 23 minutes. The bread pudding should be firm with no visible moisture.

7. (Optional) Put the baking dish under a broiler for 45 to 60 seconds. 

Caramel syrup: 

1. While the bread pudding is baking, put the sugar and three tablespoons of water in a small saucepan that is very clean. Let the pan sit on the stove with no heat while the water moistens the sugar. Do not get sugar crystals on the side of the saucepan. 

2. Heat the sugar and water over medium heat. DO NOT STIR—Kiyo didn’t. You can occasionally swirl the pan very gently to better distribute the color. 

3. In three to five minutes, the sugar will melt, and the mixture will turn golden brown. (If you have an instant-read kitchen thermometer, you want it to be between 355 and 380 degrees.) 

4. Once the sugar is brown, turn the heat down to low. Carefully add 3 tablespoons of HOT water. (BE CAREFUL—THIS WILL SPLATTER.) 

5. Give the sauce a good stir.

6. When the bread pudding is done, pour the caramel sauce on top. (This will make more caramel sauce than you need for a single serving.)