Food Does Bring People Together

Through facebook, this friend of mine managed to locate me after more than five years of not meeting one another. She's my junior both at secondary school as well as in college. In short, both of us end up as teachers! Started with a simple hello in facebook, it continued with chatting and later, phone conversations. Finally, we decided to meet and I invited her for lunch at my place.

Since I am aware of the fact that she is a superb baker and bakes wonderful cupcakes, I was kind of worried of what to prepare for her. I gave her a call and she mentioned 'masak asam'. I'd expected this for both of us are Malaccans. There could not be another appropriate dish to celebrate our 'mini' get-together. We chatted over lunch and it was time for dessert. I served Mini Mixed Fruits Tartlets and 'Rojak Buah'. Here are the recipes.

MINI MIXED FRUITS TARTLETS

Ingredients :

For the pastry:

125g butter

60g icing sugar

1 egg yolk

220g flour (sifted)

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

For the custard filling:

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp custard flour

4 tbsp caster sugar

1 cup / 250ml fresh milk

1 egg

1 tbsp / 30 g butter

1/2 a medium can of mixed fruits (drain the juice)

Method:

• For the pastry, combine all the ingredients and mix well until the mixture forms a soft dough.
• Take a small amount of dough and roll out to 5mm thickness. Using a cookie cutter, cut out rounds to fit into your moulds. Use your fingers to to press the pastry to fit into the well. Use a small knife to trim the edges.
• Heat the oven at 175C. Using a fork, prick holes in the middle of the pastry.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
• Take out from the oven and keep aside to cool.

• For the custard filling, put the flour, custard flour and sugar into a small pot. Using 2 tbsp of the milk, stir until the mixture is well-mixed.
• Put in the egg and mix again.
• Pour in the remaining milk and stir.
• Using a balloon whisk, stir the filling mixture continuously, using a double-boiler method.
• Cook until the mixture thickens and let to cool.

• To assemble your tartlets, spoon/pipe the custard filling onto the tartlet casings and decorate with the mixed fruits.
• Serve your tartlets within 2-3 hours after to prevent them from getting soggy.
• Enjoy!

ROJAK BUAH WITH HOMEMADE SAUCE

Ingredients:

A selection of pineapple, cucumber, 'sengkuang', raw mango, 'jambu air" (cut into bite size pieces)

For the sauce:

1 bottle / 340ml of chilli sauce

1/2 bottle / 175ml of sweet soy sauce

1 medium piece of palm sugar ('gula melaka')

4cm toasted shrimp paste ('belacan')

10 birds eye chillies ('cili api')

1/2 cup of toasted, ground peanuts

Method:

• For the sauce, mix all the ingredients and cook over a medium fire. Stir continuously.
• Cook until the mixture thickens.
• Put your selected fruits into a bowl and pour in the sauce.
• Mix well until all the fruits are evenly coated with the sauce and transfer into a plate.
• Sprinkle the toasted peanuts on the top and enjoy!