DRAGON FRUIT JAM AND DRAGON FRUIT TARTLETS

Dragon fruits are flamboyant with their shocking pink skins and their even more shocking purple-pink insides. However they are, in flavour, not such the drama queen that they appear to be (its more elegant twin is white inside). 

It is not an overwhelming fruit. It is mildly sweet, soft and quite refreshing and the seeds somewhat nutty in texture. It is native to South America and today it is cultivated widely in Vietnam for commerce. 

I stared at it sitting in my fridge in all its pink and purple glory. I had bought it skinned and sliced. I thought it would make an outrageous looking jam. I had originally bought it because I had wanted to make a natural food colouring. But I realised after checking at Tes's lovely blog that it is not the flesh that is used to make a pink/red food colour but the inside of the skin. Experiment abandoned.

So I made jam ~ 

It turned out looking beautifully purple pink. And because it does not have an overwhelming flavour I quite liked it. Neither sour nor tart. Just midly sweet.

Then I made tarts ~

Because I did not have a shallow tart tin I used Sarah-Jane's Easter egg silicone moulds that I used for easter egg madeleines. So I had egg shaped tarts filled with  dragon fruit jam.

The recipe ~

Dragon fruit jam

280 gm dragon fruit flesh (purple kind), cut up into chunks

140 gm sugar

1/4 lemon, juice extracted

1/4 tsp gelatine soaked in 1 T water, left to soften (optional)

Place everything, except gelatine and water into a pan. Place over medium heat and bring ot a boil and them lower to simmer and simmer until it becomes a thick jammy syrup. Add the gelatine/water mixture and stir to mix in. Simmer until jammy and to a consistency that you like.

Dragon fruit jam tarts ~

Sweet short crust pastry

250 gm all purpose flour

60 gm castor sugar

125 gm cold butter, cut into small cubes

1/4 ts salt

1 egg yplk

2-3m T cold water

Place all ingredients into a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers rub in the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles a coarse meal. 

Gently using both hands press the mixture together until it all comes together into a ball. The heat from your hands will soften the butter and this in turn will make the dry ingredients, butter and wet ingredients adhere and come together to form a dough. 

You can also use a food processor if you find the process a little messy to do by hand. The food processor basically does the same thing of softening the butter by the warmth from the motor and after a few seconds the mixture will come together. As soon as it comes together into a dough stop the machine at once and remove the dough from the bowl immediately.

Do not knead the dough with your palms as this will activate the gluten in the flour and make a tough pastry. 

Roll out the pastry to 1/4 inch thick and cut into rounds that will fit whatever tart pan that you use. I made 12, 2 inch long oval jam tarts with this. Had a bit left over that I kept in the freezer.

Place the cut out pastry into the tart moulds and fill with jam till almost full. Bake in a 180 C oven for 10- 15 minutes.

PINEAPPLE JAM TARTS

Some things find you even when you're not looking for them. Like a little tart press. 


The little tart press worked like a charm. It stamped out smart little crimped tart shells that looked like they were about to march off the baking tray in a fine little procession. And the depressions..... they were simply waiting to be sat on by sticky ole pineapple jam.

My little pineapple tart press, the love of my life.

And the pastry..ahhhh that's yet another joy in my tart life.


I had used a combination of plain flour and custard powder and a little more than half the proportion of butter to the flour mixture. It produced the most light, the most buttery and the most crumbly pastry when baked yet it remained an obliging and workable dough in its raw form.

Without a doubt the magic ingredient was the custard powder which provided the lightness and gave that gorgeous golden glow to the finished tarts. It abolished the need for an egg wash. Magic ~ yes? 

I almost shrieked uereka. And I would have run fully floured and barefoot into the blistering sun, stand squarely in my driveway, roar triumphantly upwards, swing my hair with a jerk of my head and throw some age-tsuki-s with my powderful fists to puncture the sky, had it not been for the fact that life requires some amount of of decorum from a person my age.


So I did a milder but no less limb twisting feat which was quite difficult too. I patted myself on the back, took a few bows in front of the mirror, made a short speech, thanked myself and clapped my hands.


Ho ho ho ~


The recipe ~

5 oz plain flour
3 oz Bird's Custard Powder
5 oz butter, cold and cubed
1 T cold water

Pineapple jam like here but to which......

I have added 1/2 cup of brown sugar and cooked till drier and firmer so that you could just roll a little ball of jam between the palms of your hands easily. the sugar makes the jam firmer.


Make the pastry.....


Sift the flour and custard powder together, Throw ina pinch of salt and mix well with your fingers or a spoon to ensure that teh two flours are well mixed.


Put in the cubed butter and cut up finer with a knife or a pastry cutter and then use your finger tips to crumble it up until it resembles very fine breadcrumbs.


Pour into the flour butter mix a tablespoon of the cold water and using your fingers or the pad of your finger bring the dough together just by pressing, no t kneading. When the dough comes together and is a smooth lump chillitin the refrigerator for 30 minutes.


Roll out and using a pineapple tart press stamp out rounds until the dough is used up.

The tart press looks like a little torchlight...hehe

Roll bits of pineapple jam in your palms and press into the depressions of the tart shells. Make little slivers from the dough and fold them into little v-shapes and place on the dough. This however is completely unnecessary and time wasting.


Bake for 25 minutes or so in a 180 C oven.

PINEAPPLE JAM

I feel a little silly doing this again.......But here goes... 

The e-exchange...........

"Oh JU! i am making this tonight!!... LOL ~ I've had the jam in the fridge for a week...and tonight I'm making it ~ what a surprise when I came over and saw your tarts!!! we have the same same mind Ju! :)

~Zurin~

LOL!! Zurin, you must share your recipe with me!!! Looking forward to reading about your bake soon.

~Ju~

GONE Ju .....the tarts did not survive the night....LOL....i only made 25 pieces because I was craving them...i was hoping no one would ask for them but not so. Now I have nothing to blog about..well nothing decent ...unless I blog on my left over chicken curry from last night (before it's time for lunch)...

uh uh.. I don't think so ~.

Anyway I'll just go stick my head into my pantry, the fridge, the freezer ..whatever..and see what I can come up with for this very demanding blog of mine!

The things we do! SIGH 
~zurin~ 

Gone?! LOL!!! Must be really yummy! And er ... 25 pieces won't go very far considering there are more than 2 people in your house! ;) I think 25 pieces aren't enough for my 2 older kids, so you must have rationed your tarts? He he!
~Ju~"


Yes Ju ..only 25...which means..... I have left over pineapple jam!! Wooo hoo!


So the pineapple jam became an overnight star! 


That was my dear friend Ju, The Little Teochew up there :)

 
The recipe............ 

Contrary to what many people think making pineapple jam is as easy as pie. I lied. It's easier than pie. 

You just need to watch the pot and stir it once in a while. And it doesn't take long at all. I think I cooked this in half and hour. 

And I have to say that this is really good. The cinnamon makes all the difference.

1 small pineapple
50 - 60 gm of light brown sugar or more if you like it sweeter 
1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder
1 small cinnamon stick
2-3 cloves

pinch of salt

Peel and chop up the pineapple discarding the fibrous stem in the middle. 

Put all the pieces in food processor and pulse until very fine and mushy.

Place the pineapple mush, the sugar and the cinnamon stick in a thick based medium sized pot over a small flame.

Cook until the jam is dry or as moist as you like it. Add cinnamon powder and a little salt if using. Taste and make it just perfect for you.

Cool and store in a jam jar. Make pineapple tarts or spread on toast. YUM!