Portuguese Egg Custard Tarts Recipe

My ex-manager, Joao, is Portuguese and from the day he came to know that I love baking, he's been asking me to bake some Portuguese egg tarts. It sounded daunting but to be fair, I didn't even do a search for Portuguese egg tarts before deciding that in my mind. As he continued telling me how delicious they are and couldn't be more different from the Chinese Egg Tarts, I said I would try baking the Portuguese version if he could bring some for me from Portugal. He agreed.

And then he went and made it happen. A few months after this conversation, he actually brought some egg tarts from back home and I tried them. They were custardy, sweet, and true to his word, delicious.

I had no more excuses to not bake some Portuguese egg tarts and the best opportunity came up when a bunch of were going to visit Joao and Ruth's baby, Luke.

Imagine baking Portuguese egg tarts for the first time for a Portuguese. Go ahead, imagine that. Jitterville!

I did it and I got a huge thumbs up from Joao. He even said a lot of people in Singapore would be willing to pay for these. Hmmm...

Portuguese Egg Custard Tarts
Adapted from Not Quite Nigella
Makes 12

Ingredients:
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar (I would use slightly lesser than this next time)
2 tbsp cornflour
400ml full cream milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 block of puff pastry sheet

How I Made Them: 

1. Grease a muffin tray and pre heat oven to 200C.

2. Place the egg yolks, sugar, and cornflour in a pan and whisk together until well combined. Slowly add in the milk and mix well with no lumps.

3. Place the pan over a medium heat and cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens and comes to the boil. Let it simmer for 2-3 mins, then remove from heat and add the vanilla extract.

4. Transfer the custard to a bowl, cover, and let it cool.

5. Thaw the puff pastry sheet and roll to about 1/2" thickness on a floured surface. Roll it from the width-side tightly and cut into small discs. Roll each disc (flouring the surface sufficiently) to the rough size of the muffin tray.

6. Lay each rolled out disc into the muffin tray, pour the cooled custard to about 3/4 level and bake for about 25 mins.

The custard will bubble up during baking, don't worry! The top of the egg tart should have brownish black patches for that authentic Portuguese egg tart look!

Sprinkle with cinnamon powder and serve warm. 

Golden Onion Mushroom Quiche Recipe

This month's 'A Sweet Punch', although not sweet, came out fantastic! This is another one of those why-on-earth-did-I-ever-think-of-making-these kinda recipes.

I would highly recommend this golden onion mushroom quiche recipe to beginner bakers. You know why? Its going to make you feel awesome and so much more confident because its practically no-fail.

Golden Onion Mushroom Quiche Recipe
Makes 8 generous wedges and 4 mini quiches

Ingredients

For the pastry:
1 cup + 2tbsp flour (200gm)
100gm unsalted butter, frozen
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 beaten egg
A generous pinch of salt

For the filling:
2 cups chopped mushrooms (I used button mushrooms)
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 beaten eggs
Freshly ground pepper
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oil


How I Made It:

For the pastry:



Mix flour, salt and baking powder together. Ideally, you should sieve this. Ideally. Grate the frozen butter and mix it well with fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse sand.

Sidenote: I would recommend grating the butter only if you have someone to outsource the washing of the said grater. If not, just cut the butter into cubes and follow this process.



Add the egg and bring the dough together. You can add a few drops of ice cold water if needed at this stage, but I didn't have to. Transfer the dough to a floured surface.



Roll it out about 1/2" thick. Its fine even if its not an even circle or whatever. Just make sure the thickness is more or less even all around.



Next step is to gently transfer this to a greased pie dish. Here's what I used. I bought this pie dish ages ago anticipating this exact moment! Well, not really, but atleast it was put to good use after 7 months of buying it.



Gently lift the rolled out dough and lay it over the dish. Press it down lightly at the bottom and along the sides. If there's a gap somewhere, just take the overhanging dough fromt he sides and patch it up. Go on, nobody needs to know. I did it along the top and left hand side, can you tell? Of course you can, but, it doesn't matter. That's the beauty of a quiche.

Refrigerate this crust while you put together the filling.

Pre-heat the oven to 350F / 180C.

To prepare the filling:


Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions until golden brown. Add the mushrooms and saute until soft and all the water has evaporated from the pan. Top off with ground pepper and salt and mix well. Cool completely.



Break 2 eggs into a bowl and beat lightly. I know there are three in there but I ended up with a lot of extra filling and I really don't want you to waste good ingredients. So stay with me here, ok? Only 2 eggs needed.



Add 1/2 a cup milk to the eggs.



And top off with about 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Mix well.

To assemble and bake:



Bring out the prepared crust from the fridge.



Lay the onion mushroom mixture evenly on it.



And top off with the milk-egg-cheese mixture until it reaches almost up to the top of the crust.



Bake until the top turns golden brown and patchy in parts and the crust turns golden - about 25 to 30 mins.



Cut into wedges and serve warm.



I had some leftover dough and filling so I made 4 of these adorable mini quiches with it in these tart moulds that came with my old oven. These only need to be baked for about 20 mins and are fantastic single-serving portions for parties or potlucks.

This was a great "Sweet Punch" for September. Will link to the roundup as soon as its done. Thanks ladies!

No-Fail Basic Pancakes Recipe

Pancakes may seem like the easiest things to make but from experience, I can tell you that.. its not! Sometimes, my pancake batter is too thick, or too egg-y (bleghh), or too thin.. and then the pancakes are not perfect.

Considering that I dive into the pancakes tray whenever I have breakfast buffet in a hotel, AND considering I have this here food blog and stuff, it would be ridiculous if I didn't have a decent (and easy) pancake recipe to share.

I knew "this is it" when I saw this post on Cheesecake for all. And I was right. Sometimes you know these things you know.

Basic Pancakes Recipe
Makes 12-14 mini pancakes


Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons oil + extra for greasing the tawa/griddle

How I Made It:

1. Beat together - egg, milk and oil.

2. In a separate bowl, combine-  flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the centre and pour in the egg mixture.

3. Beat lightly until smooth (meaning, no lumps).

4. Pour about 2 tbsp of batter on a hot and lightly oiled griddle and let it spread naturally. After a minute, flip to the other side. Both sides should be golden brown so adjust heat accordingly as you cook them.



Serve warm with a dollop of butter or maple syrup or both.

Malabar Egg Curry / Egg Curry in Coconut Milk

Whenever I make egg curry, its usually the Kerala-Style Egg Roast. Its easy and goes with rotis, rice or even dosa. Recently when I made appam, I had the craving to have egg curry with coconut milk, the sweet and spicy curry of my childhood. Using store-bought coconut milk significantly alters the taste of this so use freshly squeezed coconut milk if you have time in hand.

This recipe is my own version of the popular Malabar Egg Curry. Don't be mean if it doesn't go with what you have in mind.

Malabar-Style Egg Curry
Serves: 2

Ingredients:
3 eggs, boiled, shelled and cut into halves
2 large onions, sliced
1 cup thick coconut milk (onnaam paal)
1 cup thin coconut milk (rendaam paal or 1/2 cup store-bought coconut milk + 1/2 cup water)
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
A pinch of turmeric
1 tsp garam masala (or pound/grind together 2 cloves, 1 small piece cinnamon and 1 cardamom)
Salt to taste

To temper:
2 tsp coconut oil (or any oil)
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp jeera / jeerakam
A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. Boil eggs, shell them, cut into halves and set aside.

2. Heat oil in a pan and add the ingredients to temper. When the mustard seeds pop, add the sliced onions and fry until they turn golden brown.

3. Then add the chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala (or masala mix) and turmeric and fry for 30 seconds. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry for another minute or so.

4. Add the thin coconut milk and reduce flame to flow. Bring to boil and let it cook for about 2-3 mins, stirring occasionally.

5. Keeping fire on low, add the thick coconut milk and the eggs. Add salt, bring to just one boil and remove from fire. If you boil too much, the coconut milk will curdle so be careful.

Enjoy warm with rotis, rice, appam or puttu.

Egg Lentil Omelettes in Gravy / Guddu Thattu Posinti Recipe

I don't know how to name this recipe actually. Its my grandmom's recipe and I am not sure if anyone has eaten this or a variation of this. We call it Guddu Thattu Posinti and its very infrequently made, making it an extra treat. I had a craving for it one day so called up amma, got the recipe and made it immediately.

Note: this is a slightly time consuming recipe to make but totally worth the effort. 

Egg Lentil Omelettes in Gravy / Guddu Thattu Posinti Recipe
Serves 4

What I Used:

For the omelettes:

3 eggs
A pinch of salt

To grind to paste:
1/4 cup toor dal, soaked for atleast 2 hours
2-3  green chillies
1" piece of ginger
5-6 shallots / pearl onions


For the gravy:

1 cup tamarind juice (a lime-sized ball of tamarind soaked in water and juice extracted)
Salt to taste

To roast and grind:
1/4 cup grated coconut
1 tbsp channa dal / kadala paruppu
1 tbsp coriander powder / malli podi
1 tsp red chilli powder
A pinch of turmeric powder
1 tsp oil

For tempering:
1/2 tsp mustard seeds / kaduku
6 shallots / pearl onions, sliced thin
A pinch of hing / asafoetida
A few curry leaves
2 red chillies, torn into halves
2 tsp oil

How I Made It:

Let's do the gravy first.

1. Roast and grind all the ingredients under that list. In a pan, add this ground masala along with the tamarind juice and salt. Bring to boil and let it simmer for 5 mins. The gravy shouldnt get too watery nor too thick, the consistency should be thicker than rasam but thinner than kozhambu.

2. Heat oil for tempering and add all the ingredients. When the mustard seeds pop and the shallots turn golden, add to the gravy and set aside.

Now for the omelettes.

3. Grind the ingredients under list for omelettes.

4. Break the eggs into a bowl.

5. Add the ground lentil paste.

6. Beat well for a minute with salt.

7. Make into small omelettes by pouring 2 tbsp of the egg mixture at a time onto a lightly oiled pan.

8. Cook closed to maintain softness.

9. Flip over when one side is browned.

10. You should get about 5-6 omelettes with this quantity of ingredients.

11. Phew, ok last step. Dunk in the omelettes in the prepared gravy and serve after an hour or two with steamed rice.

Egg & Soya Bean Sprouts Fried Rice Recipe

If TH makes rice, there is always some leftover. The left-over quantity is always in-between. Not enough for 2 of us the next day and a bit too much for one person to have. This has made me something of an expert in leftover rice recipes. I make all kinds of pulao, fried rice and what not with this bowl of cold, refrigerated rice.

This recipe is also one such leftover rice recipe. But before I go into the details of that, I have to talk about soya bean sprouts.

Remember these bean sprouts from the stir-fried broccoli mushroom recipe? These are moong sprouts. Smaller, daintier, very crunchy with a nutty aftertaste. Its very popular in Asian cooking and available all over in Singapore.

Soya bean sprouts, on the other hand, are not as popular or widely used but often available in the supermarkets. I wanted to try it out so grabbed a bag once. And that's how it ended up in this egg fried rice.

Egg & Soya Bean Sprouts Fried Rice

What I Used:

Cooked rice - 2 cups

Soya bean sprouts - 1/2 cup, washed and drained

Eggs - 3

Soya sauce - 1 tbsp

Green chillies - 2 to 3

Ginger galic paste - 2 tsp

Oil - as required

Pepper - to taste

Salt - to taste

How I Made It:

1. Heat 2 tsp oil to a pan and scramble the eggs with some salt and pepper. Leave them as lightly bigger chunks, don't mince too fine while scrambling.

2. Heat some more oil (I used about 2 to 3 tsp) and add the bean sprouts. Saute until the shoots get soft. Now increase the heat to maximum add the soya sauce, chopped green chillies and the ginger garlic paste. Saute on high heat for a minute and lower heat.

3. Add the cooked rice and mix well, adding salt and pepper to taste.

4. Remove from fire, mix in the scrambled eggs and serve hot.

You can garnish with some green/spring onions if you want.

Variations

Make egg fried rice by simply avoiding the bean sprouts. Add cooked vegetables and avoid egg for vegetable fried rice. You get the drift.. :)

Oh and by the way, I am hosting a giveaway at my other blog, Truly Madly Deeply. So if you are interested in finding out what it is and enter, here's where you need to CLICK :)

Fried Egg Sambal

Egg Sambal is typically a Malaysian dish but can be found in Indonesia too. I have tried it at various food stalls here in Singapore and always loved the tangy flavour. It seemed like the perfect thing to make after we got back from tiring 3-day vacation in Bali. Yes, I know. We should've come back revived and all that but thanks to the heat, that really didn't happen. I did manage to shop a bit for handmade soap and aromatherapy stuff so no complaints! 

Since I was really lazy to cook up anything, I didn't hardboil the eggs like they usually do for egg sambal. I fried them up and cut them into strips. The gravy used is very similar to the gravy base I made for stir-fried tofu. It made a great side-dish for a simple vegetable rice. 

Fried Egg Sambal Recipe

What I Used:

Eggs - 4

Tomato - 1, finely chopped

Onion - 1, finely chopped

Tomato paste / ketchup - 1 tbsp

Garlic - 3 pods, crushed

Tamarind paste - 1/2 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Coriander / malli / dhania powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Oil - 2 tsp + 2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Spring onions - 2 stalks for garnish (optional)

How I Made It:

1. Break the eggs into a bowl and mix well with salt. Pour onto a heated pan with 2 tsp oil and make a thick omelette. Once cooled a bit, cut into strips and keep aside. 

2. In the same pan, add 2 tsp oil and add the onions and garlic. Fry lightly until the onions turn soft and transparent. Take care not to burn them by maintaining the heat at medium-low.

3. Next, add the turmeric, coriander, chilli, salt and tamarind paste and fry for about a minute. Then add the chopped tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes break down and the oil separates from the sauce. 

4. Add the fried egg strips and mix well without breaking them too much. If the omelette is thick enough, the strips will hold their shape while mixing. Simmer for a minute or so, remove from fire, garnish wtih cilantro / spring onions and serve warm as a side to any rice dish or even roti. 

Scrambled Eggs with Mushrooms & Masala

I happened to chance on some Parsi recipes while random browsing the other day and came across this incredibly simple recipe for scrambled eggs, what the Parsis call Akoori. It didn't look very different from the usual masala scrambled eggs recipes I use, except that they add ground cumin in this. I wanted to follow the recipe exactly but my hands itched to use up some extra mushrooms lying around after making the Broccoli Mushroom Stir Fry, so I decided to use them up here.


Though I really didn't create an Akoori at the end of it, I was quite intrigued by this simple scrambled egg recipe that I saw, that I had to share it.

This is no Akoori, its just plain old Scrambled Eggs with Mushrooms and Masala. Doesn't that have a nice ring to it?

What I Used:
(Serves 2)

Eggs - 4
Onion - 1 small, chopped
Tomato - half of one, chopped
Mushrooms, any variety - 1/4 cup (remove hard stem and quarter the cap if using button mushrooms)
Capsicum - 1/4 of one, cubed
Curry masala / Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Ground cumin / jeera / jeerakam - a pinch
Red chilli powder - a generous pinch (you can also use 1 sliced green chilli)
Curry leaves - a few
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Pepper powder - for sprinkling on top while serving

How I Made It:

1. Break the eggs into a bowl and mix well with salt. If you want to separate a couple of yolks and use only the whites, that's fine too.

2. Heat oil in a wide pan or wok and saute the onions until transparent. Throw in the mushrooms next, increase the heat and let them cook for a few seconds before tossing. Let them cook again for some time and then toss again. Do this cook-toss routine till the mushrooms start sweating and get softer. (Should take about 4 mins or so depending on the mushrooms you are using).

3. Now add the cumin powder, chilli power, and the curry masala and mix well for a minute.

4. The tomatoes go in next and you can tear the curry leaves and throw them in too. Mix around for some more time until the tomatoes get a little soft and give out the water. I chopped them fine so they pretty much broke into a mushy pulp at this stage (psst.. I don't like chunky pieces of tomatoes in my egg, quite distracting!).

5. Now our stars make the entrance. Lower heat to just over sim and add the eggs. There are two ways to mix them at this stage. If you mix vigrously and continuously, you will be left with fine pieces of scrambled eggs and if you let it cook for a while and then break it up, cook-break, cook-break, then you will get slightly bigger, softer pieces of egg. I prefer the latter method so that's what I did.

6. Once the eggs are cooked through, remove from fire, sprinkle some pepper powder on top and serve with toast, rice, or anything of your choice. I won't tell anyone if you eat it as is, if that's what you prefer to do ;)

Though I prefer the first pic, this one has a better view of the mushrooms so here you go!

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Please keep those recipes coming for The Recipe Diary Contest.

Thanks to everyone who started contributing already. You are all that much closer to winning the cookbook of your choice!

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Omelette Curry

My fiance is an eggetarian, so any recipe that is innovative and uses eggs in it is something I always give a shot. My grandmom used to make a variation with lentils added to the omelette and in a coconut based gravy. This is a much simpler version, but once I figure that one out, I will be blogging it too :)

What I Used:

For the omelettes:

Eggs - 4
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch (optional)
Shallots - 5, finely chopped
Salt - 1 tsp, or to taste

For the gravy:

Tomatoes - 2 big, cubed
Onions - 2 big, chopped
Potato - 1, cubed
Green chillies - 3
Jeera powder - 2 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp

For tempering:

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves - a few

How I Made It:

1. Beat the eggs lightly with all the ingredients for the omelette.

2. Depending on the pan size, make one thick omelette or as two separate omelettes. The omelettes should be thicker than usual, so that it doesn't dissolve or break off in the gravy when we mix it in.

3. Cut the omelette into smaller pieces and keep aside.

4. Heat the oil in a pan and temper mustard seeds. Throw in the curry leaves and the chopped onions and saute till transparent.

5. Add the jeera, coriander, chopped green chillies and fry for a minute. Add the potatoes and tomatoes with a bit of water and cook closed, till the potatoes are tender and done.

6. Now add the cut omelette pieces, mix gently and remove from fire.

Let the omelettes soak for an hour or two before serving with hot rice.

Other Egg Recipes:

Pizza Omelette
Egg Dosa
Kerala Style Egg Roast

My Pizza Omelette!

I love eggs and one of the easiest and most convenient thing to cook with eggs would be - omelettes! So this is my special 'pizza' omelette that's colourful and probably something most of you cook at your homes too :)



What I Used:

Eggs - 2
Green chillies - 1
Tomatoes, diced - 1/2
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Pepper - 1 tsp
Cheese cubes - 1

How I Made It:

1. Whisk the eggs with salt and pour on a girdle with little oil.

2. Sprinkle the chillies and tomatoes and cook for 2 mins, closed.

3. Topple over, and remove in about 10 seconds.

4. Sprinkle better powder and diced cheese pieces. Let the cheese pieces melt a little.

Pizza omelette with bread toast

Tip* Adding some oregano gives this a nice pizza flavour :)

This goes over to Kanchana for her WBB event of October where the theme is omelettes.

I am hosting WBB #17, so stay tuned for the theme of this month!!

Egg Dosa with Onion-Tomato Chutney/Mutta Doshayum Ulli-Thakkali Chammanthiyum

I love egg, be it omelette, or curried, or hard boiled, or even on a dosa! (Only exception being bull's eye). Egg dosa is a favourite at home and normally we have it for dinner. Last week, we had this for breakfast though, with spicy onion-tomato chutney. Mom either makes tomato chutney or onion chutney but both are a little time consuming, especially the tomato chutney which requires a lot of time on the stove and when it boils, it falls all over the stove, dirtying it. Needless to say, I am too lazy to follow that so went for an equal amount of tomatoes and onions for this chutney.

Egg Dosa

I used readymade batter for the dosa. To make the batter at home, take rice : urad dhal in 3 : 1 ratio, soak overnight (or atleast 5-6 hours) in water separately, grind separately and then mix together, adding salt. This batter should be kept covered for another 5 hours or so before you can start making the dosa.


Using this batter, pour a dosa on the griddle, break an egg and lay on top of dosa. Lightly sprinkle with gingelly oil, carefully turn and cook till the egg is cooked.

Onion - Tomato Chutney


What I Used:

Onions - 2 medium
Tomatoes - 2 large
Hing - 1 pinch
Red Chillies - 4-5
Garlic - 8 cloves

How I Made It:

1. Fry onions in very little oil till it they turn golden brown.

2. Add the red chillies, hing and chopped garlic.

3. When the masala is done, add the chopped tomatoes, mix well and cook till the tomatoes are soft.

4. Cool this mixture and grind well in mixie.

Serve with hot egg dosa.

Nadan Mutta Roast/Kerala Style Egg Roast

For my roomy and me, egg curry is a staple side dish every weekend. Its easy, goes with most of the main dishes and reminds us of home. This is the recipe that I always follow. Please excuse the not-so-great pic, I am yet to get better with my photography skills :)

What I Used:

Eggs : 2
Onions : 3 medium
Tomato : 1 medium
Green chillies : 3 sliced
Chilly powder : 1 teaspoon
Jeera powder (jeeraka podi) : 1/2 teaspoon
Dhania powder (malli podi) : 3 teaspoons
Ginger-garlic paste : 2 teaspoons
Oil : 3 tablespoons
Mustard seeds : 1/2 teaspoon
Curry leaves : one strand
Salt : to taste

How I Made It:

1. Boil the eggs, shell, slice and keep aside.

2. Heat oil, put the mustard seeds in to crackle. Saute the onions till they turn golden brown. Adding a little salt to it makes it wilt quicker (tip from my Grandmom).

3. Add ginger-garlic paste to the golden brown onions and fry for a minute. Then add the masala - chilly powder, jeera, dhania - green chillies, curry leaves, and fry well till the raw smell leaves the paste, which should take a good 3 minutes.

4. Once the masala is well cooked, add the finely chopped tomatoes and saute till it blends with the curry.

5. Add one cup water (or more if you like the curry thin) and bring to boil. Add the boiled egg and remove from fire after 2 minutes.

Note: I use coconut oil to make this curry sometimes and this gives it a more 'Kerala' taste. This curry goes well with almost anything - chappathi, parotta, rice, dosa, puttu.

Hope you all enjoy it!