Quick & Easy Egg Tarts

Talking about Egg Tart(蛋挞) or Egg Custard Tart I am sure most of us will link it up with "Dim Sum", "Yum Cha" or Hong Kong famous Tai Cheong Bakery(泰昌餅家) Egg Tart where the filling is extremely soft and flows into your mouth when bite.

Basically egg tarts come with two main types of crusts which is either “Shortcrust” or “Puff” pastry with Egg Custard as traditional fillings. But now with wider customers range from different countries and age group, newer fillings like Chocolate, Green-tea, Orange and even Bird Nest is available during different occasions.

Recently I have come across two egg tart posts from to lovely ladies that stir-up my thoughts of making these lovely tea-snack to serve my guests during Chinese New Year. For your interest you can also read up their post at "Egg Tarts (Dan Tat)" from Tale of Crumbs and "Tai Cheong Bakery Egg Tarts - Not!" from Ju's of Little Teochew blog.

Ingredients for Egg Custard: (makes 6, 3" Tarts)

15g Caster Sugar
40ml Water
1 Large Egg
20ml Fresh Milk
1 Teaspoon Condensed Milk

Method:

1. Boil water with sugar till melted and keep aside till cool. (you can dissolved the sugar in hot boiling water too)
2. Crack the egg in a small mixing bowl, add in fresh milk and condensed milk then gently stir with a whisk till well mixed.(becareful not to over whisk)
3. Add in cooled sugar syrup and stir well.
4. Sift the entire mixture through finest sieve twice to get ride of any egg clusters.
5. Carefully fill the prepared tart shells with egg mixture till the rim.
6. Bake in preheat 140 degree oven for about 20 minutes or till egg custard achieve the pudding like texture.

Note:

~ The Egg Custard recipe is adapted and modify from Tale of Crumbs, original recipe HERE.

~ You can use any Shortcrust Dough recipe for this egg tart shells. I use the remanding dough from my pineapple tarts dough.

Ingredients Pastry Dough:

150g Plain Flour
20g Milk Powder
1/2 Tablespoon Icing Sugar
125g Cold Butter, cubed
1/2 Egg Yolk, lightly beaten
1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence

Method:

1. Sieve flour, milk powder and icing sugar in a mixing bowl.
2. Rub in butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. (must be fast or else the butter will melt and the dough will became very soft)
3. Beat in the egg yolk and essence.
4. Mix well to form a dough. Place in a plastic bag and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
5. Roll pastry out to 0.5 cm thickness on a lightly-floured tabletop and cut out rounds to fix the tart cases.
6. Gently press the dough into the tart case and trim away any excess, chilled the prepared cases for another 5 minutes in the fridge.
7. Use a fork to prick some holes on the pastry shell before putting the tart case into the preheated 160 degree oven.
8. Bake tart shells on middle rack for 10 minutes or till slightly brown, remove and cool the shells for about 10 minutes before filling it with the prepared egg custard.


If you prefer to make these egg tarts in a much hassle free way, you can always purchase those ready-made shortcrust pastry from any local supermarket. Cut and fix them into the tart cases and go ahead with the egg custard preparation and you would enjoy fresh and pipping hot delicious egg tarts in less than 30 minutes. 

Quick and Easy Egg Tarts

Reunion Dinner At Peach Garden, 33 OCBC Centre

Last year our combined family reunion dinner was organised by my brother and it was held at "Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant - 四川豆花饭庄" at UOB Plaza(post HERE). And this year it will be my cousin's turn to source for the dinner venue as well as selection of menu.

Finally after some research he decided to held the dinner at one of the newest "Peach Garden(桃苑)" outlet at level 33, OCBC centre.

From the photo above, you can glance that our menu for this year is "Chef's Recommendation Lunar New Year Special Set Menu" that consists of 1 Yu Sheng as appetiser, 5 Main Courses and 2 Desserts to cater for 12 Adults.

Upon arriving at the restaurant there is a pool of "Tangerine(柑)" available near the entrance counter for customers to pick up as a symbolise of "Good Luck". Other than tangerines there are also bottles of  Peach Garden homemade special "XO Sauce" on sale for customers to purchase home.

Before dinner starts there are some delicious "Almond Cookies(杏仁饼)" from Peach Garden that is served as snack. And most of us who tried agrees that these cookies do taste light with a hint of delicate Almond flavor that is not too overpowering. Some even believes that Almond cookies symbolise "COINS" which will bring good fortune too.

As usual the 1st dish for any Chinese New Year Menu will be "Yu Sheng(鱼生)" which symbolise good luck, prosperity, promotion and etc. According to the waitress this dish is known as "福星高照" and she will help to add/pour in the ingredients one at time with auspicious greetings used for Chinese New Year before we starts our "Lo Hei(撈起)".

Other than the usual Shark's fins and Abalones, "Roasted Golden Suckling Pig(金陵片披乳猪)" is another popular dish to be included in traditional Chinese New Year Reunion menu which symbolise "Gold and Good Luck". For this dish the crispy skin layers are eaten with either flat bun or thin wrapper together with hoisin sauce.

While the reminding parts of the suckling pig is usual cut into small pieces and braised with "Mei Cai(梅菜)"  or deep-fried with seasoning shown above. Eveyone comments that this is indeed a very delicious dishe as the crispy outer layer is being infuse with a light and tasty salt and pepper seasoning which makes it goes choice to go with either beer or wine.

Next on the list is this "Double-boiled Shark's Fin with Shrimp Dumpling and Mustard Green Soup(亭汤中鲍翅水饺菜胆). To me this soup is nothing really special perhaps just a good soup broth that tops with a small piece of "Sharks Fin" and Shrimp dumpling.

This "Braised 1 Head Whole Abalone with Sea Cucumber and Lettuce(原只１头鲍鱼海参菜)" is one of my aunt's family favourite dish as they loves the texture of Abalones.To us the sea cucumber is nicely cooked with a soft and gluey texture but the abalone was rather a bit bland to taste. Still prefer the braised abalone from Ah-Yat or Owen.

The "Braised Soon Hock with Yam Paste(芋泥焖笋壳鱼)" was rather miserable in appearance and taste. Before this dish is serve I was rather excited to see how the chef will incorporate "Yam Paste" into the dish but when it comes the serving appearance immediately gives it a "F" grade. Perhaps the waitress are pretty busy and they did not even ask us whether to serve the fish in whole or in individual portion. And we can only see a few yam cubes in it rather than what is mentioned as "Yam Paste" so I think there is nothing special about this dish which is just braised fish with yam cubes in sauce.

Last dish is "Saute Live Prawns with Noodles and Homemade Sauce(干爆生虾捞面)" with lots of LEEKS(蒜) that symbolise "money" whereas the noodles in this dish symbolise "longevity in health".

Finally it's Dessert time, as usual there are two different types of dessert in the Chinese New Year menu. The 1st one shown on the photo is "Dried Glutinous Rice Ball(干捞汤圆)" where the black sesame fillings rice ball is coated with grind peanuts.

Second dessert is rather something new apart from those usual mango pomelo or red bean soup. This is known as "Ice Refreshing Pearl Tea(冰凉珍珠茶)" that serves with mini chewy pearls and cold refreshing jelly together with fragrant tea.

Overall this is a great Reunion Dinner where everyone gets together and stay as a family that shares happiness and funtime. And as usual every year after reunion dinner, Uncle James will give each of us an advance ang bao known as "Ya Sui Qian(压岁钱). In the olden days, during Chinese New Year eve the elders will prepared some advance money to be given to the younger generation as this said New Year's money is use to suppress the evil spirit and the junior will have money to spend in peace in coming New Year.

Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner - Part I

Traditionally most Chinese families would gather together for a feast a few days or just before the start of Chinese Lunar New Year. And eventually this meal is known as “Tuan Yuan Fan(团 圆 饭) or Reunion Dinner which is eaten with all immediate family members as a symbol of strength and unity in the family. And during the reunion dinner there is always plenty of food on the table and also by having an excess of food would also symbolizes good fortune for the New Year too.

For the past few years my mum has being joining us together with my in-laws to have Reunion Dinner since she is alone after my dad passed away. And this round is our 2nd year having pre Chinese New Year dinner at "Jing Long Seafood Restaurant" which is located at Bedok North Ave 2.

We reached the place around 5.40pm and almost 3/4 of the restaurant is full of customers either waiting for the food to be served or at least already eaten the 1st dish which is "Yu Sheng". By 6pm the restaurant is fully packed with customers and the serving staffs also seems to be a bit slow and forgetful as they didn't even serve us any drink after 30 minutes upon our arrival.

Finally after another 10 minutes, our "Salmon Yu Sheng(三文鱼鱼生)" arrived and the waitress starts to mumbling all those auspicious words while adding in the ingredients.

Second dish is "Braised Shark Fins with Bean Sprout(银芽扣珍珠翅)". Out of all the dishes in the menu, we find this is actually abit below average taste as the stock is so thick and gluey that reminds me of the "Tau Suan(spilt green bean soup)".

When comes to fish, do you prefer steam or deep-fried? I think most of the people would prefer "Steam" rather than "Deep-fried" if the fish is fresh. But surprisingly our "Deep-fried Soon Hock Fish in Special Sauce(特味顺壳鱼)" on that day was quite impressive with their special sauce and also some "Papadum(an Indian cracker)" instead of usual prawn crackers around it.

Does this "Braised Mushroom with Dried Oyster(花菇耗士生菜)" look Familiar to you? Yes! If you have follow my Chinese New Year dishes, you would have read up the post on how we prepared a similar dish at home. (read more HERE)

Instead of the usual Crispy Cereal Prawns that my sister-in-law loves, this year we are having "Spicy Butter Prawn(奶辣脆皮虾)". And according to New Year myth, eating prawns will bring happiness and well-being because in Mandarin and Cantonese "Xia" and "Ha" mean laughter.

You can find this popular "Lotus Leaf Rice with Chinese Sausage(腊味荷叶饭)" dish in most of the Chinese New Year set menu from various restaurants. It is believes that these rice grain symbolise "silver and gold" that is being wrapped in a money bag.

Lastly for dessert we have something different this year which is the "Assorted Mochi(四季麻薯)" instead of their signature Mango Cream with Pomelo.

This is Part I of our Reunion Dinner on Sunday, 30 January 2010 at Jing Long Seafood Restaurant. Personally I think dine-out during Chinese New Year in any restaurants is actually very rush and the food might not be as good in quality compare to normal days. Although Jing Long serves quite good quality of food but from my past experience on eating reunion dinner in restaurants, I find that with the price that we are paying is actually goes to the staffs OT pay during festive season instead of the quality of the food.

Hope next year everyone can agreed to have something simple at home rather than eat out which is too costly and not worth paying for the price and quality of food we had.

JING LONG SEAFOOD RESTARUANT
Block 412 Bedok North Ave 2
#01-152
Singapore 460412
Reservation: (65)6442 9398
Website: http://www.jinglongseafood.com/

Daily Business Hours:
Lunch: 11.30am - 2.30pm(last order 2.15pm);
Dinner: 5.30pm - 10.30pm(last order 10.30pm)

Lotus Seeds, Longan And Persimmon Sweet Soup

Today is Chinese New Year Eve and I am sure most of the young kids are very excited about the "Ang Bao(s)" that they are going to collect over the long weekend holiday. And for the adults, especially all the "Mums'" no doubts most of you will be busying in the kitchen preparing all the yummy food for reunion dinner.

Ladies from the younger generation perhaps you can also contribute some easy Chinese New Year "Auspicious" sweet soup as after meal dessert to pamper the elderly for preparing such as great reunion feast and as well share the sweet and harmony atmosphere through the sweetness of the dessert.     

This is the most common Chinese New Year sweet soup that is being favourite by old and young generation. You can manipulate with the ingredients according to your preference but these are the usual ingredients used.


Preparation Time: 15 Minutes                                   Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients: (serves 4)

60g Dried Lotus Seeds(莲子), soak till soften
60g Fresh Gingko Nut(白果)
80g Dried Longan(桂圆肉)
1 1/2 Pieces of Brown Sugar(冰片糖)
2 Small Pieces of Dried Persimmon(柿饼), sliced
4 Sterculia Seeds (澎大海)
2 Litres of Water
1 Bundle of Pandan Leaves

Method:

1. Soak the Sterculia Seeds into hot water until fully burst out before removing the outer shell and seed. Rinse and drained well then set aside.
2. Soak Dried Lotus seeds in hot water for about 5 minutes till soften, rinse and remove any green sprouts from each seed and set aside.
3. Rinse the pre-packed fresh Gingko Nuts and season it with 1 teaspoon castor sugar.
4. Bring 2 Litres of water to boil, add in lotus seeds and dried longan, cook on medium hat for about 10 minutes, add in marinated gingko nuts and pandan leaves and cook for another 10 minutes before adding brown sugar to taste.
5. When done, add in sliced persimmon and prepared peng-da-hai then give them a quick stir before turning off the heat.
6. Dish up on bowl and serve either hot or cold.


Sterculia Seeds (Pend-da-hai "澎大海") is brown and wrinkled in appearance but sweet and cold in nature. These seeds were traditionally used to soothe a sore throat and cough, but in addition it also helps clear the intestine and assist proper bowel function. From the photo above it shows the "bursting" effect of the Sterculia seeds after being soaked in hot water for about 5 minutes.


With this Chinese New Year sweet soup, I wish everyone had a Sweet And Harmony moment with your loved one just like this sweet soup and their auspicious meaning of the ingredients. Stay healthy always and I hope you will find some inspiration through those Chinese New Year dishes or dessert that I have shared this year. Thanks.