Melktert (milk tart, South African style)

This is the original South African version of melktert but I used a store bought crust instead of doing that from scratch.

Ingredients:

1 cup milk
2 tbsp. butter, room temp.
4 tbsp. corn flour
6 tbsp sugar
2 eggs, yolks separated
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 cinnamon stick
1 ready made pie crust

Method:
Roll out the pie crust over the tart pan, line the tart pan with it and trim the edges as needed.
Preheat the oven to 375°C.

Heat the milk in a pan with the cinnamon stick.
In a bowl, cream the butter sugar and corn flour. Now add the heated milk in a thin stream and keep whisking until combined. Now transfer back to pan and heat for a few minutes until it thickens and forms a custard. Pour this through a sieve into a bowl to cool slightly.

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Add the egg yolks to the thickened milk mixture and whisk.
Fold the egg whites. Pour this custard into the prepared tart pan and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes or until cooked and firm. Remove and sprinkle with cinnamon. Chill in refrigerator when cooled.

Cut into wedges and serve.

Green papaya curry

Lately, I have been looking to eat a little less meat and add more vegetarian options to my diet. This is not just because of the health benefits but also to do my little part for the environment.

So, was pleasantly surprised to find the green papaya quite by accident... my husband actually brought it home thinking it was regular papaya :)
Anyways, I am glad, as it made a truly delightful curry and am going to seek this out the next time around!

It reminded me of gourds or quashes in texture and I thought it would work well as a substitute for green jackfruit or chayote squash in an Indonesian or Thai curry. So, it borrows from both but looks (and tastes) more like a green curry.





Ingredients:

1 small green papaya, peeled, deseeded and cubed
4-5 kaffir leaves
5-6 curry leaves
1 tsp. shrimp paste (skip for vegetarian version )
1 " piece galangal (or ginger) sliced with skin on
1 cup coconut milk (small can works great)

for spice paste:

1 tbsp. coriander seeds
2-4 green chilies, cut into chunks
15 shallots (pearl size), peeled
10 raw cashews

Method:

Grind all the ingredients for spice paste with a little bit of water.
Transfer the papaya cubes, spice paste and 2 cups water into a sauce pan. Add the ginger, shrimp paste, kaffir and curry leaves and let it cook until the papaya is fork tender.

Now turn the heat to low and add the coconut milk and stir until heated through. Serve with rice.

Banana and saffron malpuas

I was recently in Udaipur, Rajastan at a friend's wedding and tasted malpuas for the very first time. They had a very delicate Swedish crepe like texture, glossy with the syrup on top and accompanied with the creaminess of kheer, simply delicious! I never really imagined that combination before but it really worked.

So, inspired by that, and also wanting to use some really ripe bananas :) , I created this version and served it with vanilla ice cream instead.















Ingredients:
2 tbsp. ghee for making the pancakes

for the batter:
1 large really ripe banana, mashed with a fork into a paste
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)

1 cup milk

saffron strands

for the syrup:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tsp rose water or orange blossom water

Method:

Warm the milk and add saffron strands, let it steep.

Whisk the flours, 2 tbsp ghee, sugar and then add the banana to it. Now add milk in a thin stream, continue whisking to form an even batter. It should be slightly thinner, like crepe batter... add a little more water to achieve that consistency, if needed. Let it rest while you make the syrup.

Heat the sugar in a saucepan with the water until it reaches the right consistency (around 10 minutes). Turn off the heat, add the rosewater and keep in a warm place.

Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Pour 2 tbsp. of batter, help form a small round pancake with the back of the spoon. Dot with ghee around the sides and flip when golden.

Take a flat serving plate or dish, spoon some syrup in the bottom, place the warm malpua over it as soon as you remove from the pan. Immediately coat the pancake with a tsp. of syrup. It should look really glossy and absorb some of the syrup. Repeat with another/rest of the pancakes.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.