二零二零年货 CNY 2020 Goodies: Matcha Pineapple Tart 黄梨挞

During Chinese New Year, we gather our family and relatives at our grandparents' place to 拜年. As we sit around the living room's table, most of us reach out to one CNY goodie (no no, it's not 肉干) - Pineapple Tart 黄梨挞. 

Last year, one of our tearistas brought back some homemade Pineapple Tarts from Penang, Malaysia. He specifically told us that without fail, the pineapple tarts are wiped out within a couple of hours after his grandma put them up for sale.

The expectation was high - we took up one piece, gave it a sniff (dramatic we know, but can you blame us?), split into two pieces so that we can savour it more and popped one straight into our mouths.

WOW!!! This is as good as what you can imagine or dream about pineapple tarts. Melty, buttery, and best part - zesty and fresh pineapple jam with bits of the real thing in it!

Armed with the grandma's secret recipe, we believe we have the best Pineapple Tarts this year in Singapore with a progressive twist. Presenting our own version: Matcha Pineapple Tart (抹茶黄梨挞)!

But fiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrssssstttt, let's check out this super tedious process of making it from scratch.

P.S. We kept some steps hidden due to respect and confidentiality requested by grandma.

First, we have to make our way to get the best and freshest pineapples in town! And where else but a wholesale centre for fruits - Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre for Fruits and Vegetables.

Do you know how to choose sweet pineapples? Choose either green or yellow ones, then you have to use your other sense - "A ripe pineapple should smell sweet and be firm when squeezed", explained by grandma.

Okay this isn't so hard we guess (we regretted saying this so early).

Next, we went back to our kitchen to slice, dice, throw in some sugar, cinnamon and secret ingredients before we cook them in a pot under slow fire.

"Easy peasy", we told our grandma. She smiled.

"How long do we need to cook and stir them?" we naively asked our grandma. She humbly replied, "At least six (6) hours." 

OMG, you serious grandma? AT LEAST 6 hours? Or maximum 6 hours? Or shorter than 6 hours?

After a gruelling eight (8) hours, because we ain't so professional, we finally cooked one batch enough to make 10 bottles? 8 hours = 10 bottles. Is this even commercially-viable?

Who cares? We want our Matcha Pineapple Tarts, lol.

See the fruit fibers? This is not ARTIFICIAL ALRIGHT! Fresh, natural, no perservatives and extremely tedious.

We are dang proud we did this. To prove to ourselves our grandma's secret recipe will remain long and mighty to keep our pants tighter during Chinese New Year! HAHAHAH!

Using a healthier version of sugar dough, we actually utilize a tart formulation instead to make it more eggy and melty. Mixed evenly with our Matcha Powder,  our crust has a tinge of bittersweet to counter the sweetness from the pineapple jam. 

Talk about balance - we thought about us being able to eat more. HEHEHEH!

After a good ten (10) hours, we finally saw the fruit (in this case, pineapple) of our labour!

A nice melty and zesty fresh Matcha Pineapple with fresh fruit bits and a hola touch of cinnamon!

Pop one in and it reminded us why we diet and exercise before Chinese New Year because this is so damn worth it!!!

Check out those fresh pineapple jam made with secret recipe by grandma. We are so glad to have done this!

Matcha Pineapple Tart (抹茶黄梨挞)