Week 42 - Serbia and Taiwan

Wow, this Apple Pie was anything but lazy, but it was not difficult to make and it was lovely. My dough was more of a sponge than a pastry dough, so I couldn't roll it - even though I followed the instructions. So something went wrong, however it was delicious. A friend had a piece and she agreed, but also said it reminded her of an apple cake her Polish friend made.

I had also found a pineapple cake from Taiwan, but haven't yet made it although I have included the recipe. One day I will get around to it. [Have been reminded by my husband that I will not be making this cake, as he cannot eat Pineapple! We shall see....] We are all getting a little tired of this challenge, so many different foods and as my husband says, when we come across a gem (such as this cake) we never have it again! I think they are worried that they will get lost in my never ending pile of recipes. I hope that these logs will allow me to find them and do them again.

Lenja pita sa jabukama (Lazy apple pie)

(enough for 4 people) - I made a tray and cut into 9 pieces!

Ingredients:

• 200 g margarine,
• 100 g lard,
• 400 g sugar,
• 4 eggs,
• 2 cups of milk,
• 600 g flour,
• 1 sachet of baking powder,
• vanilla sugar,
• 1 kg sour apples.

Preparation:

1. Stir together 200 g of margarine and 100 g of lard, add 10 tablespoons of sugar and 4 egg yolks and continue stirring well.
2. Add 2 cups of milk, 600 g of flour mixed with a baking powder and vanilla sugar. Knead the dough.
3. Put more than half of dough in greased baking pan, then well beat 4 egg whites with 6 tablespoons of sugar and pour over the dough in the pan. Add 1 kg of sour grated apples to all of that.
4. Spread the rest of the dough to form the crust that fit pan shape and place it over filling.
5. Place the pie into the medium heated oven and bake until the crust is golden brown.
6. Sprinkle powder sugar over warm pie.

Source: http://www.serbiancookbook.com/food-recipes/desserts/page/2/ (Accessed Nov2017)

Taiwanese Pineapple Tarts/Shortcakes Recipe

Ingredients:
2 stick butter (1 stick of butter = 113 grams)
1/2 Tbsps shortening
2 Tbsp Icing sugar
1 egg
1 tsp pineapple essence (optional)
3 cups All-purpose flour
2 Tbsps Milk Powder
2 Tbsp cornflour

Method:
Cream butter, shortening and icing sugar till light and fluffy for around 8 minutes.
Add in egg and essence if using.
Fold in all purpose flour, cornflour and milk powder. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Divide dough into 30 pcs and wrap with the pineapple filling.
Press it onto the square mould and bake it at 170 celcius for 15 – 20 minutes and turn it around to bake for another 15 minutes or till brown.
Source: http://rasamalaysia.com/taiwanese-pineapple-tarts-recipe/2/ (accessed Nov 2017)

Pineapple Paste

Ingredients:

• 250 gm of fresh pineapple. Diced roughly
• Sugar
• Lemon (juice)
• Corn flour (mix ½ Tbsp corn flour with ½ Tbsp water and mix to a homogeneous slurry)

Method:

1. Homogenise the pulp in a kitchen processor.
2. Strain off the juice and retain the pulp mass.
3. Transfer the pulp with sugar and an amount of lemon juice, appropriate to your preference, into a brass pot. (Amount of lemon depends on the variable sweetness of the fruit)
4. Simmer for 30 minutes to cook and thicken the paste by reduction.
5. Add the mixed corn flour slurry and mix this quickly,  but completely into the pineapple jam.  Turn off the heat immediately to prevent scorching of the corn flour. Any uncooked flavour of the corn flour will be cooked out in the baking process. The cornf lour stiffens the paste making it somewhat easier to roll and hold the shape of the ball during preparation. It can be made without the corn flour.
6. The resulting paste is now suitable for making the Pineapple Tarts.

Notes:
Additional flavourants are added by many Asian and Eurasian cooks to this jam including cinnamon, star anise and pandan leaf during the cooking.

Source: http://ediblyasian.info/recipes/pineapple-paste-for-pineapple-tarts (Accessed Nov 2017)