Portuguese Tarts ala Lina

Portuguese Tarts a la Lina

Ingredients

• 1 roll flaky pastry
• 400 ml whipping cream (2 tubs Schlagsahne)
• 5 eggyolks
• 1 heap tsp cornflour
• 180 gm sugar
• grated lemon peel
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence (see this post)

Method

Roll out pastry and sprinkle generously with flour.

Roll it up firmly with like a swissroll/log and divide into 12 pieces.

Flatten each roll (not sideways) with the swirl on top, roll out to about 10-12cm diameter.

Dust muffin pan generously with flour and gently press pastry to fit.

Place in fridge while proceeding with the filling.

Preheat oven to 250°C.

Place all ingredients in a saucepan. I used a plunger (Stabmixer) to whisk till well combined.

Cook over medium low heat, uncovered, stirring constantly with wooden spoon till custard starts to thicken.

Remove from heat immediately but continue to stir to make sure the custard is smooth.

Spoon custard into pastry cases and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until pastry is golden and custard is firm.

Ginger Garlic Paste

Garlic Paste: ingredients

Garlic Paste: result

A friend from India brought some fresh tender ginger. If there were more, I could slice them up and preserve them for sushi. With only 250 gm, I decided to add another 250 gm of garlic, 1 tsp salt and dump the whole lot (without adding any liquid or water) into the food processor and turn it all into paste.

Ingredients

• 250 gm fresh tender ginger
• 250 gm fresh garlic
• 250 ml sunflower oil
• 1 tsp salt

Method

Then heated up 250 ml of sunflower oil, cook the ginger garlic paste on medium heat.

A general guide to make sure that the paste is ready: the bubbling oil will be cloudy initially. After 15-20 minutes, as soon as the oil clears, it's done.

Cool and pour into a clean jar.

Keep in refrigerator for at least a month or longer.

This paste is good for Hainanese chicken rice, for curries and even as dip, eg. for pot stickers.

Place of Interest: Fishermen's Quarter in Ulm

Ulm is one old city along the river Danube with a beautiful old church going back to the year 1500. Here are some of the old houses from the Fischerviertel ("Fishermen's Quarter")...

Homemade Hokkien Noodles

Hokkien noodles

Hmmmm......Hokkien Mee. Only ingredient missing is crispy pork fat.

Don's Comfort Tea (Yogi Tea)

Yogi Tea (I)

Yogi Tea (II)

This is one of my favourite drinks...

...with crushed ice and a dash of lemon juice in summer,

...with fresh milk or cream in winter.

Ingredients

• a handful fresh peppermint
• 8-10 pods of green cardamom
• 2 sticks fresh lemongrass (slightly crushed)
• thumb size piece of fresh ginger (slightly crushed)
• black tea of your choice - 2 teabags
• 1 litre water
• sugar/honey to your own preference

Method

Boil all ingredients on medium flame for 20-30 minutes.

Sieve and add sugar/honey.

Serve with lemon juice or milk.

SIMPLE !!