Melktert

Well, it was almost a complete disaster. I told N I would try and make some Melktert. She showed me a South African Magazine a few weeks ago called "Avocado" and it had a recipe for the milk tart in it. I said I would try it out and let her taste it. Haha.. She's South African so, I think I've just ruined the traditional treat. -__- It's not my fault. The measurements for the ingredients were a bit odd. They used volume instead of weight..


I had the late shift at work so I decided to make it Friday morning. The mini tarts turned out... horrendous, but the baseless tart was actually quite good! It tastes.. quite okay. I don't know what the real deal tastes like (I've never had South African food before..) but it tastes milkier than an egg tart. Haha. Duh.


Melktert
Makes 24 small tarts and a large baseless tart

16 layers of filo pastry
melted butter
1 litre milk
ground cinnamon
100ml sugar
100ml cake flour
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten
4 egg whites, beaten to still peaks

Layer 4 layers of filo pastry brushed with melted butter.
Cut in 6 squares and arrange into muffin pan.
Repeat this with remaining filo pastry.

Heat milk with cinnamon.

Mix sugar, flour and a pinch of salt in a heatproof bowl.
Slowly add in hot milk and mix.
Allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Mix in egg yolks. Fold in egg whites.
Pour into pastry cases.

Bake for 10mins at 180C. Then another 10mins at 160C.


Where I went wrong was that I didn't fold the egg whites enough. So most of the egg whites appeared in the little tarts, thus explaining their lumpy appearance. BLAH. :(

Rice pudding pots

Rice pudding. Sweet rissoto. Chè.
Whatever you want to call it, it's basically all the same.

To be exact, this is rice pudding. A non asian version. It's easy to make. But unfortunately, I kinda made too much. Haha... -__-


Oh, how I love these ramekins. I have a set of 5. My colourful pretty little pots! Hehe. <3

Rice pudding
Makes about 20 servings

2 cups arborio rice
5 cups water

1 cup milk
3 whole cloves
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup sugar

Rinse rice.
In a large pot, boil water, add rice. Bring it up to the boil again, then turn down heat to low.
Leave to simmer until it is no longer watery. Stir once in a while. This should take about 30mins or so for the rice to become almost creamy like.
In another saucepan, melt sugar in milk. Add cloves and vanilla.
Once sugar has melted, turn the heat to low.
Remove cloves.
Mix into rice.
Set aside.

Banana custard

1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp corn flour
2 ripe bananas, mashed

In another saucepan, add milk, sugar and vanilla.
Take the saucepan off the heat.
Beat in egg yolks quickly. Mix in corn flour. Add in banana.
Bring it back to the heat and stir constantly until mixture thickens.

Serve with rice pudding.


Serve warm or cold.
Refrigerate when not being eaten.

You can also serve with other fruits instead of banana, such as mango or berries. Mmm..

Rushed sushi & pineapple milk

It's sushi again.


Came home from work and decided that I had enough energy to make sushi. Plus, the weather was too hot for hot food. Unfortunately... I was hungry. So it was rushed. I usually take photos before I eat. But this time I couldn't be bothered. I wasn't going to take photos at all actually, nor post this. And somehow I ended up doing so (I guess it was natural instinct that made me do so. I couldn't help it!). Haha. So here was what was left over. :P



Sushi with the works (They were gigantic!)
seafood mix, cooked
pan-fried teriyaki salmon
prawns, cooked
avocado, sliced
cucumber, sliced lengthwise
pickled radish, sliced lengthwise
japanese mayonnaise
roasted sesame seeds
cooked rice
furikake (rice seasoning, i used the salmon and roe one)
rice vinegar
sugar
nori sheets
wasabi, for dipping
premium soy sauce, for dipping

Cook rice. Mix in rice vinegar and sugar. Mix in furikake.
Leave to cool for a while.

Take nori, put a thin layer of the rice. Leave 2-3cm at the end uncovered with no rice.
Sprinkle sesame seeds, then add mayonnaise and any of the toppings at one end of the rice.
Roll up towards the riceless end. Leave untouched for a few minutes so that the nori can stick and close the roll.
Slice and serve with wasabi and soy sauce.

I made 4 gigantic rolls = ~8 normal length handrolls. And no, I did not eat them all. I would explode if I did. I was hungry, but now I'm too full. :(

And seeing as it was hot today, I made myself some pineapple milk. Yum yum! Haha. I've never tried it before. But there was still pineapple juice in the fridge (from when I made midori splice) and there was milk (of course, there's always fresh milk!). So I decided to mix the two. My sister looked at me weirdly, 'what? you're going to mix pineapple juice and milk? *raises eyebrow*'. UH HUH! And I liked it! It was very refreshing and not too sweet. I could have probably added in some midori to make it a splice wannabe.. but nahh. :)


Pineapple milk
3/4 quantity pineapple juice
1/4 quantity milk
ice

Mix together and drink when chilled.


Mmm. That was nice iced pineapple milk! :D