Pineapple tart (tat nenas) has to be the most popular sweet pastry in Malaysia during the festive seasons.
For the Chinese, it is a must during the Chinese New Year festival as pineapple signifies prosperity because of its shape and color. Hari Raya also can never do without tat nenas.
When you pass through family houses across the street, you can smell the pineapple jam being prepared. It is such a homely aroma, beckoning you to enter.
To make the jam, you can either use canned pineapples or fresh ones. Of course fresh pineapples will make better tasting jam.
The tarts can be made in many shapes but the old favorite in my household is the open tart.
Tip: All utensils must be cold when you are making the pastry. Rolling pin, rolling sheets and the tart molds. Keep these in the fridge prior to using.
Ingredients
Pastry:
- 500g flour
- l/2tsp salt
- 250g butter or margarine
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
Jam:
- 2 medium sized grated pineapple (I simply use the food processor).
- 350g sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 large cinnamon stick and 1 star anise
Method:
To make jam:
- Peel pineapples carefully, as the skin has sharp thorns. Remove all green colored skin and the thorns (hidung) off the flesh of pineapples.
Interestingly, the sharp thorns in pineapple are called hidung in Malay, meaning nose (they remind you of looking into someone's nostrils, don't you think?
- Grate or process finely the pineapples, drain the liquid.
- Mix the pulp with a little bit of salt, sugar and the cinnamon stick in a saucepan.
- Simmer slowly until thicken, stir freqeuntly to avoid burning.
- Jam is ready when the mixture is bubbling in the saucepan.
We do not want jam which is too thick because it will be difficult to place thick jam on the tart later.
To make pastry:
- Sieve flour, salt and sugar into a mixing bowl. Rub in margarine or butter and add cold egg yolks to form a dough.
- Roll pastry into 0.5cm thickness and stamp out with a pineapple tart cutter.
- Press the middle part of the cutter deeper in the centre. Add one teaspoon of jam.
- Decorate the tart with two strips of pastry placed to make a cross on the top.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180ºC for 10 to 15 minutes or till lightly brown.
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