½cup(100gms) sugar, plus more to taste if required, preferably organic evaporated cane sugar
3large eggs
pinchof salt
¼cup(57gms) butter
½teaspoonvanilla
optional - a bit of dehydrated powdered strawberry, raspberry, hibiscus, or beet, to colour the curd if your rhubarb is more green than pink (see Notes below)
Instructions
Put the rhubarb into a small saucepan with the water. 1 tablespoon doesn't seem like much water, but you just need enough to moisten the bottom of the pot so it doesn't burn in the first minute or two until the rhubarb starts releasing its own water. Stir it often until there's enough liquid in the pot so the rhubarb can cook in its own juices. Bring it to boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook it, stirring occasionally, until the rhubarb is soft and broken down (about 8 to 10 minutes).
Purée the cooked rhubarb with an immersion blender or in a standard blender until smooth (I find if I purée it in my high speed blender, I don't need to strain the curd after cooking).
Return the rhubarb purée to a clean saucepan and allow it to cool.
Add in the sugar, eggs, and salt, and whisk well until smooth.
Put the saucepan back onto medium to medium-high heat and cook, stirring constantly, just until the rhubarb curd thickens and comes to a boil. It will be slightly thickened, but will thicken more as it chills.
Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla until the butter is melted. Allow it to cool, stirring occasionally so a skin doesn't form on top. If you prefer a smoother curd, pass it through a fine meshed sieve (in case you have small bits of egg you want to remove or your blender didn't get it smooth enough). Chill the curd for at least 3 to 4 hours before serving (unless you want it to be warm on top of pancakes or ice cream).
Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Makes ~2¼ cups (550ml).
Notes
Rhubarb can vary a lot in sourness from the beginning of the season to the end, getting more tart as the season progresses. We find that the ½ cup amount of sugar listed below is just right. Adjust the sugar to your tastes, but don't make it too sweet, as a curd is meant to be tart - just not mouth-puckeringly so.Some varieties of rhubarb are redder in colour than others. Try to get the reddest rhubarb you can (or just use the redder ends of the stalks) in order to get a beautifully pink curd. (I didn't need to add any extra colour to the curd in these photos.) Greener rhubarb will yield a more yellowy-greeny coloured curd, which tastes the same, but is not as visually appealing.If you wish, you can colour the rhubarb curd to be pinker with natural pink colourants, like dehydrated strawberry, raspberry, or hibiscus powder, or cook it with a couple dried hibiscus (jamaica) flowers or a cube of fresh beet which you remove after cooking, before puréeing it.