Egg Tarts

CHEF YAN WEI from Kai Garden shares her recipe for this dim sum favourite.

Makes 25 tarts

INGREDIENTS

For the oil dough:

300g plain flour
150g vegetable shortening
150g salted butter
30ml corn oil

For the water dough:

150g plain flour

19g bread flour

9g milk powder

28g vegetable shortening

45g egg, beat an egg then measure out what you need

100ml water a pinch of salt

For the egg custard:

82g egg, beaten

10ml evaporated milk

110ml sugar syrup, make a simple syrup by mixing

2 parts water to

1 part sugar

10ml fresh, full-cream milk

DIRECTIONS

1 Make the oil dough by combining all the ingredients for it in an electric mixer. Mix until a dough is formed.

2 Dust a work surface with flour, and knead the oil dough into a ball. Wrap with cling film and chill in the fridge for 20min.

3 Make the water dough by combining all the ingredients for it in an electric mixer. When the dough forms, roll it into a 1cm-thick sheet with a rolling pin. Both the oil and water doughs should have the same texture and firmness.

Make the tart base and egg custard:

1 Wrap the rectangular water dough around the ball of oil dough, pulling the edges in to cover the oil dough fully.

2 Roll out the combined dough until it’s flat, and roughly eyeball it into three sections. Fold the left section onto the centre, then the right side over the first flap – you should have three stacked layers of dough.

3 Roll the dough flat again and repeat the folding process. Do this two more times – this process is what makes the tart base soft and flaky. Cover with cling wrap and store in the fridge while you make the egg custard.

4 Mix all the ingredients for the egg custard in a large bowl. Run it through a sieve to ensure that there are no lumps and the mixture is smooth.

Bake the tarts:

1 Preheat the oven to 200 deg C. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it to about 0.4cm thick.

2 Use an egg tart mould to stamp the dough into individual bases before pressing each one into the mould.

3 Prick small holes in the base, then pour in the egg custard. Bake for 10 to 12min until the crust is golden and the custard is firm.