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Bel Pana Tart

Bel Pana Tart

Bel Pana Tart. Buttery tart, perfectly baked to a sublime golden. A divine bel pana filling. A hint of black salt. Food heaven.
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Ingredients
  

For the shortcrust pastry

  • 280 g plain flour
  • 130 g unsalted butter cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
  • 1 tbsp powdered sugar
  • a pinch of salt
  • 6-8 tbsp cold water

For stuffing

  • 300 g bel pulp from 1 ripe bel or wood apple
  • 150 g hung yogurt yogurt hung in a muslin cloth for 3-4 hrs
  • 70 g powdered sugar
  • a pinch of black salt

For decoration ( optional)

  • 100 ml heavy cream
  • 30 g powdered sugar

Instructions
 

For the shortcrust pastry

  • In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt . Add the butter cubes. Lightly mix with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
  • Add cold water to the flour mixture, 1 tbsp at a time . Mix till the dough just comes together. Do not over-mix.
  • With light hands, make a rough ball with the dough, wrap with cling film and refrigerate for 4 hrs. (even better overnight)
  • Remove the dough from the refrigerator, keep outside for 15 minutes or so.
  • Divide the dough roughly into 8 equal balls . Using a roller pin, roll out each dough ball to a round disk with 1/4” thickness.
  • Place the dough disk in a greased mini tart pan. Gently press to give it the shape of the mould. Trim away any excess from the edges . Prick the bottom with a fork.
  • Refrigerate the tart shell for 45 minutes.
  • Put some pie weights on the shell (if you don’t have pie weights, you can put a baking parchment on the top of the crust and add some kidney beans for the weight) and bake them in a preheated oven for 12-15 minutes at 180C.
  • Remove the tart shells from the oven the take out the pie weights.
  • Return the tart shells to the oven, bake for another 12-15 minutes or until the shells become a light golden.
  • Remove from the oven, allow them to cool down completely. Keep aside.

For the wood apple / bel pulp

  • Gently crack the outer shell of the wood apple (like you crack a coconut). Remove the seeds gently along with slimy translucent jelly like thing surrounding it.
  • Scoop out the flesh in a bowl. Splash a little water, massage the pulp to soften.
    Bel Pana Tart
  • Now keep rubbing the softened flesh against a sieve to extract the bel pulp. Continue splashing water and rubbing it till there’s no further pulp.
  • Tie the pulp in muslin cloth and hang for 3-4 hrs or till all the water is drained . Do not skip this step.
    Bel | Wood Apple

For the wood apple / bel filling

  • Transfer the wood apple / bel pulp to a mixing bowl, add the hung yogurt, powdered sugar and black salt. Mix well with a whisk till the mixture becomes creamy and smooth and there are no lumps.
  • Feel free to add more sugar if you want. Your bel panna mix is ready.
  • Cover with a clean film, keep refrigerated until use.

To assemble

  • Take the baked pie crust, gently fill it with the bel panna mix.
  • Whip heavy cream with powdered sugar till it forms soft peaks. Decorate with whipped cream.
  • Keep in the refrigerator for an hour, serve cold.

Notes

You can bake the pie shell days ahead and store them in an airtight container. They stay good for a month or so.