Egg Custard Tarts Recipe

Egg custard tart

Egg custard tarts are really simple to make, and delicious if done well. These tarts are particularly popular in Hong Kong where it is also called Hong Kong style egg custard tart. Portugal has a version called pasteis de nata. These are popular in other Asian countries as well. Even KFC in some Asian countries has custard tart on its menu.

The recipe below is for the basic version using milk and eggs. There are many variations that use cream, evaporated milk or condensed milk. I am sure these will be even more delicious but I decided to stick with the basic milk version since milk is easily found in most pantries.

As you can see I didn't roll out the dough very well. Its not the prettiest looking tart but delicious to eat nevertheless.  

Ingredients

Pastry:

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

2/3 cup butter (or mixture of lard and butter)

4 tablespoons of hot water

Custard Filling:

2 eggs, room temperature

1 ½ cups whole milk

½ cup sugar

Vanilla extract (optional, authentic Hong Kong version does not use it)

Directions

1.       Heat oven to 160 degrees

2.      To prepare the pastry cut the butter, add flour and work the butter flour mixture with the tips of your fingers, until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

3.      Add hot water, one tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together. You may need more or less water

4.      Cover the dough and refrigerate

5.      To prepare the custard lightly beat the eggs, making sure not to incorporate any air bubbles.

6.      Stir in the milk and the sugar

7.      On a floured surface, roll out the dough until it is about 3 to 4 mm thick

8.      Use a pastry cutter to cut out 18 circles that are 8cm in diameter

9.      Fit the circles into the tart shells and pour the filling into the shells

10.   Bake until the custard is cooked and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean (about 35 minutes)

Easy 4-Ingredient Coconut Cookie Recipe

Easy 4-Ingredient Coconut Cookie

Ever had a date with someone drop dead gorgeous and wondered how someone so gorgeous was so easily available. Once you make these cookies you will ask yourself how something so delicious could be so easy to make. 

As the name suggests these cookies are really easy to prepare, and it uses 4 ingredients only. And no, cake or cookie mix is not one of them. The cookies turn out to be very crispy and coconutty.

The recipe is in parts instead of specific measurements. I used a coffee spoon for measuring the ingredients. You can use any spoon, cup or holding vessel. 

You can use either butter or oil. I used oil and it worked perfectly. If you use oil I suggest that you add a small amount of milk or water to the oil so that the water/milk content is about 10-15%. If you don’t add water or milk the cookies will still be very delicious but it will be very very crumbly. Butter already has 20% water content while oil is 100% fat. Instead of water or milk you can add golden or dark syrup. The cookies will be crunchier and slightly chewy.

If you don’t have self raising flour, a substitute is 1 cup flour, 1½ teaspoon baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt.

Ingredients

1 part sifted self raising flour

1 part sugar

1 part desiccated coconut

‘Enough’ melted butter or oil (about 1/2 part)

Directions

1.       Mix all the dry ingredients

2.      Add enough melted butter or oil to form a dough of the right consistency

3.      Bake at 180 degrees until golden brown and delicious, about 10 minutes

Easy 4-Ingredient Coconut Cookie

Salmon Pudding (laxpudding) Recipe

Salmon pudding

Salmon pudding is a traditional Swedish dish. It is really simple to prepare and requires just a few ingredients, like most Swedish dishes. The recipe is quite versatile, it can be varied to suit your tastes. I substituted milk with yogurt because I didn’t have milk at the time I was making this. I also used lighter (low fat) cream and reduced the amount. The pudding was not as rich and creamy but it was fine with me. Perhaps richer and creamier pudding will be better during the colder months.

The recipe suggests using salt cured salmon. I didn’t have time to do this and used raw salmon instead. It worked.  

It is recommended that the pudding be served with melted butter. I skipped this and served with tomato salad instead. I also had it with salmon roe. This is optional but nice. 

The recipe below is for 4-6 servings. Source: Sweden.se

Ingredients

400 g salt-cured salmon

1½ kg unpeeled potatoes

4 eggs

300 ml heavy whipping cream

300 ml milk

2 onions

1 large bunch of dill

Salt and white pepper

Directions

1.       Boil the potatoes and peel them once they have cooled

2.      If desired, presoak the slices of salmon in milk or water for a few hours to draw out the salt

3.      Peel and slice the onion and sauté it in a little butter until it softens, without browning

4.      Grease an ovenproof baking dish, cover the bottom with potato slices, spreading half the onions on top and then half the salmon and chopped dill. Cover with a new layer of potato slices, then the rest of the onion, salmon and dill. Finish with a layer of potato slices

5.      Beat together milk, cream and eggs plus salt and pepper. Pour this mixture on top of the salmon pudding and finish with a few pats of butter

6.      Bake at 200 degrees celsius for 45–60 minutes, or until the pudding feels firm. Serve with melted butter.