Before the Suez Canal was built, all ships travelling east to the spice islands of what is now Indonesia had to sail round the tip of South Africa. The Dutch and their East India Company were a force to be reckoned with along the spice route for a large part of the 17th century, and South Africa was a convenient stopping place on the long journey from Europe to Asia.
The first permanent Dutch settlement was established at the Cape of Good Hope around the middle of the century. The cinnamon used in this recipe would have been imported from Indonesia; and the milk would have come from the increasing number of Dutch farms that sprang up around the Cape to supply the Dutch ships and their scurvy-ridden crews with fresh vegetables, meat and dairy products.
Dutch Linguistic Influences
The name of this dish also shows Dutch influences. Melk is the Dutch word for milk and tert is an Afrikaner derivation of the Dutch tart. Milk tart is served as a dessert or a tea-time treat.
Milk Tart: Melktert
Makes 8-10 slices.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 8 oz / 225 g frozen pastry, thawed
- 2 ½ tablespoons cornflour
- 17 fl oz / 500 ml milk
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 2 medium eggs, separated
- 3 ½ tablespoons sugar
- Cinnamon powder and sugar to decorate
Preparation:
- Heat oven to 425 degrees F / 220 degrees C.
- Roll out the pastry and line a greased 8-inch / 20-cm pie dish with it. Line the pastry with a sheet of tin foil or greaseproof paper and cover with some dried beans. (This technique is called baking pastry ‘blind’. The beans prevent the pastry from puffing up and the pre-baking means the wet filling does not make the pie crust too soggy.)
- Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until light brown. Take out of the oven, remove the beans and foil or greaseproof paper and put to one side.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F / 160 degrees C.
- Put the cornflour into a small bowl and mix to a smooth paste with a little of the milk.
- Put the rest of the milk and the cinnamon in a saucepan and bring to the boil. When the milk is at boiling point, carefully pour in the cornflour paste, stirring all the time.
- Bring slowly to the boil again, and stir until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and put to one side to cool.
- Beat the eggs yolks with the sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are firm. If you do not have an electric whisk, with a small whisk with a tight coil, you can do this by hand in about five minutes.
- When the milk has cooled (about 15 minutes), remove any skin that may have formed on the surface, mix in the egg yolks and sugar, then fold in the egg whites.
- Pour into the pie case and lightly sprinkle the top with cinnamon powder and sugar. Put in the oven for about an hour, or until the mixture has set.
- If you find the top is getting too dark, but the mixture is not yet set, put a baking sheet in the oven just above the pie dish and cook for 10-15 minutes longer.
- Serve cold.
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