Pineapple tarts (Recipe)

Happy Chinese New Year. We are going into the year of Monkey. It is officially tomorrow, but celebrations have already begun. Normally, we have family dinner and get-together the day before the new year and fast on the day itself. We try to keep to the tradition as close as possible, but it is harder nowadays with everyone's busy schedule. 

This year I decided to make pineapple tarts (open ones) for the occasion. I have been busy looking for recipes and ingredients since last month. Fortunately I had Thursday off, so I decided to go for it. It took me about 3 hours to bake the whole batch (I got 75 cookies in total). After the tarts came out of the oven, the pastry base was crunchy and the pineapple filling was melt-in-the-mouth. I really enjoyed the sourness from the pineapple, and the sweetness was just to my liking. It is a very nice cookie, very well-balanced. I was very happy with my first batch. It is not difficult to make, but you do need some patience.

Recipe for Pineapple tarts

Makes about 75 cookies 

Ingredients:

Pastry dough:

250g plain flour

125g cold butter

25g icing sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

Pinch salt

1-2 tbs iced water

Pineapple jam filling

2 cans (880g) of crushed pineapple in juice, drained

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup white sugar (to taste)

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp cinnamon powder

Egg wash:

1 egg, slightly beaten

Method:

For the pastry:

1. In a food processor, blend flour, butter and sugar and pinch of salt

2. Once ressembles crumbs, add in egg and vanilla essence

3. If too crumbly, add 1 tbs of water at a time, until dough is formed.

4. Place in cling wrap and rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Make pineapple filling in the meantime

For the pineapple filling:

1. In a blender. crush the pineapples to fine consistency

2. Place a saucepan on the stove on medium high heat and place processed pineapple, both sugars, lemon juice and cinnamon powder.

3. Stir occasionally and heat until the filling become sticky and there is no juices left. It should change to a brownish colour. It took me just under an hour.

4. Let to cool. Roll pastry in the meantime.

For the tarts:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees, fan-forced.

2. Roll pastry about 1/4 inch thick and then stamp your flower mold.

3. Place on baking tray.

4. Once pineapple filling is cooled, roll balls of 5g each.

5. Place each ball in the middle of each cut.

6. Brush with egg wash.

7. Bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. If browning too fast, reduce temperature to 150 degrees. 

Note:

The tart is best eaten on the day, if you want so crunchiness. The pastry becomes a little soft the day after, but still very tasty. 

Pineapple Jelly

For New year's lunch dessert, I made pineapple jelly (true, I can't believe it's already over one week since). Considering that we are in summer on this side of the world, I decided to go for a refreshing and light dessert (no cake or ice cream will do) and this is when the idea popped into my head. My mum once or twice made it at home. I chose to use the pineapple cans, so that I can reserve the juices and syrup to make the jelly. This jelly is not too sugary, but if you want something sweeter, just stir in some sugar (a couple of teaspoons). I like the balance that this jelly offers: there is a tangy side to it and it's easy to eat (and to make).

PINEAPPLE JELLY

Ingredients:
2 cans of pineapples crushed (one in juice and one in syrup)
Water
Sugar (optional)
14g agar agar

Steps:
1. Drain the canned pineapple into a sieve, reserving the liquid.
2. Mix the liquid with the agar agar and add water until it makes 900 litre.
3. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and bring to boil.
4. Once boiled, mix in the pineapple pieces and pour over a heat proof dish.
5. Let the jelly set at room temperature. Once cooled, the jelly will start to harden. Pop in the fridge to set completely. Cut into pieces and serve.

 

 

Back with Sweet and Sour fish

Okay, I just couldn't wait any longer to post. So here I am with my new 'trying' dish: sweet and sour fish. I longed to make it since ages but couldn't get decided. I'm not sure what push me this time, but like I tell myself everytime and is a fan of : let you be guided by your senses all the time, especially in cooking- it acts as a boosting force with all the excitement and pleasure; it just makes you feel good and makes your mind and body happy to put it simply ( okay I tend to get over explanatory most of the time, thing I hope I improve over time :) ). So I decided to make that dish on the spot... (okay I have to admit it was partly because I had a green capsicum and a red pepper waiting to be cooked in the fridge and we just had beef capsicum earlier in the week...so ta-da just made my mind).

I have to admit that I'm not that good in cooking fish, I just it twice or so, so the fish was a bit white.
Another thing is that I was quite ignorant about fish prices. Omy they are quite pricey. Anyway this is the fish I bought:

Well I made the dish and it turned out nice. The sauce taste just like I wanted it too. I'm not sure which recipe I made it from. I keep forgetting to bookmark my pages and I had the hassle of looking back at all the pages again.
I'm pretty sure I follow this recipe. I add a carrot, lifting the colours.

Some pictures:

PS: Click on pictures to make it bigger (I know maybe you know already ;) just saying...hmm okay leaving)..