Rambutan Tart with Ginger Cream by Tanya Chiam

Rambutan Tart with Ginger Cream

(Original Recipe from Melinda Lim)
Ingredients:
Tart Shell
180g all-purpose flour, sifted
30g finely ground almonds
70g icing sugar
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp salt
110g cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
1 large egg yolk
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
butter for greasing tart pan
extra flour for dusting tart pan

Method:
1. Put flour, ground almons, icing sugar, ground gingr and salt in a food processor.
2. Pulse a few times to mix, then add butter and pulse again - about 10 min till mixture resembles coarse sand.
3. With the food processor running, add egg yolk, vanilla extract and continue to process until the dough starts to clump together. This should take about 20 seconds.
4. Form the dough into a ball and srap tightly with clingwrap.  Chill the wrapped dough in the refridgerator  for at least an hour or until firm to handle.
5. When ready to use, preheat oven to 175 deg C.  Lightly grease a 23 cm tart pan.  Sprinkle the greased pan with flour and shake off any excess.  Set aside.
6. Unwrap the dough and place it on a sheet of baking paper, place another sheet over the dough, then start pressing and rolling till it gets to about 3mm thick.
7. Remove the top layer of baking paper and holding the tart pan facing down on the rolled out dough, with the other hand moving gently underneath the bottom of the pastry with baking paper, swiftly flip over the dough to cover the tart pan.
8. Press the dough up against the side of the tart pan and trim off any excess.
9. Line the tart shell with baking paper (I used foil), fill with pie weights or dried beans (I used soya bean).  Blind bake for 10-15 mins.   Remove the beans by lifting off the baking paper/foil.  Using a fork to prick some holes onto the pie base (it should be soft at the base), bake for another 15 to 20 minutes till golden brown and dry.  (Note: Do not discard the beans.  Once cooled down, you can store them in a container to be reused)
10. Once done, set the tart shell aside and let completely cool on a wire rack.

Ginger Cream
Ingredients:
3 large egg yolks
 70g castor sugar
4 Tbs cornstarch
250ml whole milk (1 cup)
2.5 knob fresh young ginger, sliced into 5 thin slices
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp butter

Method:
1. Hand -whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch in a heat proof bowl, till sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.
2. Put milk, ginger and salt into a small saucepan and warm over medium heat until bubbles form around the edge. This takes about 5 min.  Remove from heat.  Add the warm milk to the egg mixture in a steady steam, whisking constantly.
3. Return the mixture to the saucepan.  Cook it over a low heat, whisking constantly and vigorously until the mixture thickens.  This process takes about 5 minutes.... The mixture will thicken suddenly.  When it happens, remove immediately from the stove, stir in vanilla and butter, stir well till mixture looks smooth.
4. Transfer the cream into a bowl.  Cover with clingwrap to avoid a thin film forming on top.  Set aside for 2 hours, till it completely cools at room temperature.  It will thicken.

Assembling Decorations:
2 tins of Rambutans (drain, you may rinse the fruits to reduce sweetness, which I did)
2 tbspn apricot jam, warm for glazing
2 tbsp. water

To assemble:
1. Unmould the cooled tart shell and place on a serving plate.
2.Remove ginger slices from cream.  Pour or scoop the cream into the tart shell and spread evenly.
3. Arrange rambutans on top of the cream.
4. To make the glaze, warm apricot jam with 2 tbsp. hot water, stir well and glaze over rambutans with a brush.