The tamarind is native to tropical Africa and once grew wild throughout the Sudan but today, due to the war, at we don’t know whether it still thrives there. The tree was introduced into India so long ago that it is often, erroneously, believed to be indigenous there. Tamarind is extensively cultivated in most tropical areas of the world but it only arrived in Northern America some time during the 16th century and is now widely grown in Mexico. We will deal with the tamarind more fully in the future.  This unusual sweet and sour tart originated in Charles Carter’s The Complete Practical Cook – we couldn’t resist the recipe and duly adapted it for today.

Ingredients

• 250 grams rich short crust pastry
• 125 g sugar
• 600 ml double cream
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 blade of mace
• 90 g tamarind paste

Method

• Gently simmer the cream with 90 g sugar, the mace and the cinnamon, stirring it continuously and never allowing the cream to boil.
• Whisk the egg yolks lightly and pour over the hot cream, whisking continuously in order to make a custard, when thick, set aside and cool – remove the stick or cinnamon and the blades of mace and discard.
• Blend the tamarind paste with the rest of the sugar (30g) and shape into stiff block or ball and refrigerate until hard enough to grate.
• Line a flan dish thinly with short pastry, trimming off any excess by rolling over the top of the pan with a rolling pin.
• Refrigerate for about 30 minutes until it’s quite firm, prick the pastry all over with the tip of a fork without piercing through to the pan and then line it with a round of crumpled greaseproof paper about two inches wider than the pan.
• Fill with dried beans or rice (to about ¾ level) and bake blind for about 12 minutes in a preheated oven at 190°C.
• Remove the greaseproof paper and dried beans and cook for another 5 minutes to dry out the base of the pastry case – be mindful not to brown it too much.
• Turn the oven down to 150 C.
• Grate the tamarind paste evenly on the bottom of this case and pour the custard over it.
• Bake the tart for another about 20 minutes until the custard is just set – it must be just set because it will cook further when you take it out – overcooking will result in a horrible texture.