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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 Method Notes

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

Method
 

For the shortcrust pastry
  1. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt . Add the butter cubes. Lightly mix with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
  2. Add cold water to the flour mixture, 1 tbsp at a time . Mix till the dough just comes together. Do not over-mix.
  3. With light hands, make a rough ball with the dough, wrap with cling film and refrigerate for 4 hrs. (even better overnight)
  4. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, keep outside for 15 minutes or so.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Refrigerate the tart shell for 45 minutes.
  8. 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.
  9. Remove the tart shells from the oven the take out the pie weights.
  10. Return the tart shells to the oven, bake for another 12-15 minutes or until the shells become a light golden.
  11. Remove from the oven, allow them to cool down completely. Keep aside.
For the wood apple / bel pulp
  1. 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.
  2. Scoop out the flesh in a bowl. Splash a little water, massage the pulp to soften.
    Bel Pana Tart
  3. 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.
  4. 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
  1. 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.
  2. Feel free to add more sugar if you want. Your bel panna mix is ready.
  3. Cover with a clean film, keep refrigerated until use.
To assemble
  1. Take the baked pie crust, gently fill it with the bel panna mix.
  2. Whip heavy cream with powdered sugar till it forms soft peaks. Decorate with whipped cream.
  3. 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.