Sunday, April 5, 2009

Milk tart, Cape Malay style

After a whole lot of coaxing from the kids & my taste buds, I finally managed to make some milk tart after a long while. I just love the homemade variety, the commercial one contains too much cornflour & doesn't taste as good. Secondly, you can have yours as soon as it comes out of the oven, instead of a cold commercial one (which can be warmed in the microwave, but humour me, ok.)

With winter almost on our doorstep, the hot milk tart will make a good end to your supper too.






For the base you will need:


200ml castor sugar
30ml sunflower oil
250g butter
2 eggs
5ml vanilla essence
500ml cake flour, sifted
500ml self-raising flour, sifted


For the filling you will need:

10 eggs
125ml sugar
1 litre milk
30ml custard powder
15ml cake flour
5ml sugar
10ml vanilla essence
5 drops almond essence (optional)
2 pieces stick cinnamon
3 cardamom pods (elachi)
60ml butter
3ml ground cinnamon


For the base: Beat sugar, oil & butter in a large bowl till light & fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla essence until well blended. Mix in flours until you have a soft dough. Using two thirds of the dough, press into rectangular oven dish including sides. Allow to rest in the fridge until the filling is ready.


Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius or 310 degrees fahrenheit.


For the filling: Beat eggs & sugar in a very large bowl till thick & well blended, set aside. Mix 50ml milk with the custard powder, flour & 5ml sugar. Heat the rest of the milk in a saucepan until it reaches boiling point, remove from heat. Stir in custard mixture and mix well. Slowly pour milk mixture into eggs, while beating continuously. Add vanilla essence, almond essence (if using), cardamom pods & stick cinnamon & mix well. Pour filling into prepared biscuit crust, dot with 60 ml butter & sprinkle with 3ml ground cinnamon. Bake for 35-45 minutes until set.



With the one third of biscuit pastry that is left, I normally make some hertzoggies too!! YUMMEH!! They're my favorite because it contains coconut & apricot jam. I normally hide them away, for these treats I DON'T like sharing!! LOL!! Only drawback is I won't stop gobbling them up until they're all done. OI!!





For hertzoggies you will need:


biscuit pastry
apricot jam
coconut filling (heat coconut, sugar to taste, butter & hot water in saucepan until sugar & butter has melted)


Roll out the left over dough till about 3mm thick, cut out rounds using a cookie cutter. I normally use the flower-shaped one. Spray a patty pan with non-stick spray. Place biscuit rounds into each cavity. Place a half teaspoon of coconut filling onto one side of biscuit round & a half teaspoon apricot jam on the other side. Bake at 180 degrees celsuis or 360 degrees fahrenheit for about 8-10 minutes. Be careful not to bake it too long so as not to burn the coconut or the jam.

6 comments:

rashidah said...

asalamalikum,

i was absolutely thrilled to come upon your milktart recipe.i live in america . i hope you get this i would really like to have a penpal via email ofcourse.im a pisces. have two children.im looking forward to trying your recipe.

wa salam
rashidah

Shahieda said...

Wa-alaykumsalaams Rashidah,

Thank you for visiting my humble blog!! That would be great to communicate via email.

Have fun in the kitchen! I certainly do. Looking forward to hearing from you soon Insha-Allah!!

Wasalaams

Anonymous said...

Asalaamu Alaykum,

I am so excited to try your recipe. I Will be having some people over for Iftaar this Thursday who is all from cape town and living here in Dubai and they will be absolutely thrilled by the sight of milktart lol! (well that's if it does come out right - Insha-Allah)
Will let you know how it came out.

Salaam
Zeenat.S
from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (originally from Cape town)

Shahieda said...

Wa-alaykumsalaams Zeenat,

A fellow Capetonian, Masha-Allah!! And by the sounds of it you're not missing home eh?? I hope your guests will thoroughly enjoy the milktart Insha-Allah.

May the rest of the Ramadaan bring you much peace, forgiveness and most of all, Allah's mercy Insha-Allah Ameen!!

Do keep in touch :)

Unknown said...

Your recipes is simple and easy how and where can I get your books again. Mine was stolen

Shahieda said...

Hi Marle,

Thank you for dropping by my blog.

My books?? I wish that I could say that I've had books published but I'm just a small time home baker :D

I'm sure you have me confused with someone else :)