There was a time when I was a voracious reader. I read with a burning passion and an aggressive fury (well, at least in my memories of my younger self). I would take a book and sit down for as long as need be to finish it; then I would pick up the second; luckily I was at the age where you only needed a couple hours to finish a book. When I went to the library it was more about quantity than quality, (though there was this one book about a stray dog that I read at least five times over, and cried in the same four identical places every time—it was a tragic, tragic story).
My parents supported my hobby completely; it kept me quiet and out of the way, and they probably thought it meant I was smart (so sorry that didn’t turn out). I sometimes would read through dinner and if I started reading just before I went to bed, it also meant I read through the night.
I could also force myself to read just about anything–whether or not I absorbed anything was another matter. But as I grew older, I noticed two things: first, I couldn’t just read anything; I became a lot more selective (and somehow more easily bored; a bit counterintuitive).
Second, the quantity of reading began teetering off as I proceeded through school. My last great reading exploit was To Kill a Mockingbird in grade 10. I read over it 7 and a half straight hours sitting in the same chair, starting at 8 am and ending and 6 (with a half-hour lunch break in between). I was sore afterwards—power reading is hard work.
And now, well, I’ve been reading the same novel for a year and a half. It’s The Wind-up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami. I think it’s marvelous and I think I like it, and somehow I’m not forgetting too much of what happened earlier either. But it’s a novel I didn’t have a hope of understanding in the first place, and even less now that I’ve been reading it in such fragmented, discrete chunks.
And while I miss the old appetite I had for reading, I also sort of prefer the more leisurely manner I have now. The novel is sitting in front of my at the moment; I think it may have been a month since I last picked it up. So maybe I should read a bit more soon.
Now, onto the tart: About the only thing I’ve been cognizant enough to recognize in The Wind-up Bird Chronicles is that there are a lot of people shedding old-selves, and giving way to new-selves. It may literally stepping out of their old skin (oh, the horror) or, for the most part, a bit more figuratively. Well, this tart wasn’t made consciously thinking of this, but some connection would be good.
You see, the other day I had an ice cream bar with red beans and mochi in it. It was a good reminder of how much I like cream daifuku…and somehow it turned itself into a tart.
(That was a poor transition. Ignore that.)
But this tart is a bit about re-imagination and reinvention, without being too imaginative or inventive (in other word, general enough to apply to anything): so yes, an almond and ground black sesame shortbread crust with a bit of soft mochi, whipped cream, and white nectarine.
I love the mochi and cream together (which is how I ate the mochi scraps; torn up with a bit of whipped cream on top). I thought that worked extremely well—it was my favourite part of the tart. I made the mochi a bit looser and as a result it wasn’t too stiff or springy against the cream; it was just a bit stretchy, and gave the tart a bit of chew.
It also wasn’t too dry a tart, which is what I expected (starch on starch after all.) Yet the mochi didn’t feel dry at all so eating it on top of the pastry was actually perfectly fine, though it was best if you had some cream or nectarine together with it.
The problem though was how delicate the pastry was. The mochi was also fairly delicate; it could be cut with the side of a fork, however any pressure managed to shatter the crust. This was a lacking point: a bit too much textural contrast between the fragility of the crust and then the mochi and nectarine, which made it more difficult to eat.
Oh, and happy Fiesta Friday! Hosted by Angie, the Novice Gardener, Effie of Food Daydreaming and Jhuls, The Not So Creative Cook. It’s been another tiring week (I think I say this every time) so enjoy a tart! In the meantime, I have a weekend exam, so I’ll be off studying. Maybe with a slice of cake, though.
White nectarine black sesame mochi tart
Black sesame tart crust
Enough for 5 4-cm diameter tart shells. They are very delicate, so in retrospect I would decrease the almond and perhaps increase the amount of flour. Or look at a recipe next time; I always have mixed results when I freehand things. I tried to ameliorate some of the damage by brushing cracks of the tartshells with a bit of egg white and baking it again…I don’t know how much it helped, but it did help the shells brown nicely. This also makes fabulous shortbread.
7 g black sesame seeds
115 g flour
100 g butter, softened
35 g ground almond
generous pinch salt
1 ½ tbsp sugar
egg white
In a pan over medium heat, dry toast the black sesame seeds. It’s difficult to assess whether you’re burning them as they’re black. I go until I can hear them sizzling slightly (you’ll have to listen quite closely).
Transfer to a mortar and pestle and crush. From the fragrance released you’ll be able to tell whether you toasted the seeds enough or burnt them. Let cool.
Beat the butter with the salt, sugar, ground almonds and black sesame seeds. Mix in the flour.
Compact into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and chill completely.
Roll out ¼ of an inch thick. Line the tart shells evenly, perhaps with some patching, and chill completely.
Preheat the oven to 375.
Cut five pieces of square parchment paper and place them over the tart shells. Fill with rice or other baking weight.
Bake for 20 minutes with the baking weight, or until the edges are lightly brown and the surface of the tart is cooked.
Remove the papers and rice, return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Brush the tart shells lightly with egg white and return to the oven for another 10 minutes.
Allow them to cool completely in the pan before unmoulding very carefully.
Mochi
Adapted from Just One Cookbook; you’ll have quite a bit of leftover mochi scraps for 5 tarts. I made it a few times to play around with the hydration and texture (I’m not sure; perhaps Mochiko is different from the glutinous rice flour I use?); this is what worked for me, but it is a bit different, so do have look at the original as well!
½ c glutinous rice flour
½ c water + 3 tbsp
2 tbsp sugar
potato starch
Combine flour, water and sugar in a bowl.
Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring after each, until mochi is thickened. Then microwave for 10-20 s intervals until mochi becomes translucent.
Dust a work surface with potato starch. Scrape out mochi, dust generously with more potato starch. Roll out to around 1/4” thick. The mochi shrinks once you cut it, so use a glass around 4 cm in diameter to cut out circles of mochi.
Brush as much starch off each side as you can.
If not making immediately, place circles between layers of parchment paper in a container or plastic bag, and refrigerate.
Whipped cream
around 3/4 c heavy cream
1 1/2 tbsp icing sugar or to taste
Whip to desired thickness.
Assembly
4 white nectarines, sliced thinly
Lay a mochi circle in the bottom of the tart.
Spread or pipe some whipped cream over top of the mochi.
Arrange white nectarine slices overtop of that.
This is beautiful!
Deanna
http://www.bakinginfashion.com
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! 🙂
LikeLike
really creative!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha, you should be proud–I’ve been trying to use more glutinous rice flour as of late! 🙂 And thank you!
LikeLike
This tart looks and sound amazing 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! The major lacking point was definitely the pastry; although it did taste nice enough, and luckily, looked fine 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think I could say that I have a good appetite for reading. It’s just that time does not permit me to read more these days. I’ve started a book three weeks ago and I have only few pages left, but I still haven’t opened the book again. When life was not this busy, I could finish 4 books in a month and I really missed reading. 😦
Anyway, this tart sounds incredibly creative and yummy. Thanks for sharing you thoughts about reading and for sharing this awesome dessert. Have a lovely weekend anf happy FF. 🙂 xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
I certainly miss reading as well! Unfortunately even when I do have plenty of time (ah, when does that happen again??), my reading appetite has definitely dwindled a bit 😦 so I’m glad to hear you have quite the reading appetite! (And you’re doing much better progress on your book than I am!)
Thank you! And happy FF to you as well 🙂
LikeLike
So pretty!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! White nectarines certainly have such a lovely colour contrast 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such a gorgeous tart, and I absolutely adore those mini tart pans. Your beautiful apple slices in the form of rosettes turned out just lovely! I liked the base ingredients too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! The tart pans have definitely been getting good use–the small size is very convenient! I’m excited to do more things with black sesame as it’s such a lovely flavour 🙂 Haha, and it does look so much like apple–now I’d like to make an apple tart!
LikeLike
oops, nectarine slices, not apple 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very beautiful tart! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! I was in awe I managed to keep one of the pastry shells in one piece–it was a bit of struggle, but I managed, and so the tart came out looking fine, haha 🙂
LikeLike
They look so pretty and I love the sesame flavor in there along with the nectarine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! Black sesame is so lovely, especially in tang yuan, so it seemed fitting 🙂 Though in the end I only started to think of baking with it after having a black sesame milkshake sort-of-thing; I guess I’m easily influenced by what I eat!
LikeLike
Lovely tart! I like those rosette and the delicious base! I have some sweet childhood memories linked to black sesame and this is kindling all those lovely thoughts.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! And oh my, I’m so happy to hear that–I always love food memories! (They’re often the sweetest, aren’t they?)
LikeLike
This is a beautiful tart. You put it together so expertly. I used to read on and on too. I just loved it. I still like to read but I seem to have replace a lot of this time in the kitchen. I enjoy that too but need to find my happy medium!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, that’s so true! Food certainly has taken over quite a bit of my free time. Sometimes if I want to read before I go to sleep, I pick up a cookbook instead… 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Those are beautiful tarts you’ve put together, with some great layers of flavours! Enjoyed seeing the different ingredients – inspiring! 🙂 P.S. Love reading too! Also big library visitor as a child! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! This was such a fun tart to put together 🙂 And wonderful to hear–I really don’t know what I would have done without the library!
(Ahhh, and the mystery of the anonymous commenter is solved!)
LikeLike
Hi! Just to say that I’m ‘Anonymous’ (Lili) who wrote the comment above! Think I temporarily eliminated my gravatar by accident..
LikeLiked by 1 person
So in love… that’s all I can say! The Pastry with the flecks of black sesame… the mochi, the nectarines… beautiful!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! I often feel apprehensive when I bring together different things which I like on their own…luckily this time they worked together quite fine!
LikeLike
I can relate to reading with ‘aggressive fury’. I lost my way at university after pretending to read a mammoth list of pretentious books, but when I was free to choose my own books again, I happily returned to the fold. If you like Murakami you should try ‘Hard-Boiled Wonderland at the End of the World’. And don’t worry, very, very few completely understand a Murakami story! I really like the tarts you’ve created here, such a unique flavour. They are both aesthetically pleasing and comforting, and I adore your photos! Thanks for sharing with FF#65.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much! I just finished Wind-up this morning, and it certainly left an impression, but I still didn’t know what to make of it at all…however that doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. I think I’m too exhausted to reread it any time soon, so I’ll try “Hard-Boiled” next–thanks for the recommendation!
LikeLike
I find this incredible!! Mochi tart! How did you come up with such an intriguing idea? 🙂
P.S. I had a similar experience with To Kill A Mockingbird. It was required reading for the whole quarter but I finished in one day (and night)! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Angie! It was a combination of various mochi-things I’ve eaten and the fact that I wanted to make a tart very badly…and I’m very surprised it somehow managed to work out!
Oh gosh, I found Mockingbird enthralling. I think part of it was because I somehow thought it would be dry and dull, but it was so far from that! Haha, I’m glad you understand 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
wow didn’t imagine you could make mochi at home – pretty tarts very creative use of black sesame intriguing flavours!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was a bit surprised as well! I used a microwave method, which, haha, made it very easy! It actually worked out quite nicely so I’d encourage you to try… now that I’ve made a mochi tart I ought to make some actual mochi next!
LikeLike
🙂 ok – that sounds encouraging ! Mochi are pretty arent they
LikeLiked by 1 person
They are! I like the soft, translucent look the rice flour has when it’s cooked 🙂
LikeLike
I had never put Mochi in a tart!! Wow, such a creation! I love reading novels, and I also used to read till late in the night to finish a book. Now, I can read a bit and leave it for a while if it was written in English. But if I had a Japanese book, I still want to read start to finish. (Well, but I have housework to be done, kids to look after now. ) 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! Both ways of reading have their merits. I feel very relaxed when I’m reading a book slowly, but I’m also very interested when I read a book all at once 🙂 There’s always so much to do, isn’t there? 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
This tart is simply gorgeous! I was not familiar with Mochi until now. Love the nectarines. Also I really enjoyed your writing regarding your reading habits 🙂 My 8 yr old daughter is a voracious reader now just like how you were when you were younger. I hope she keeps up the passion! thanks for this lovely recipe!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! I hope your daughter keeps up the reading as well! I think the challenge started once I was in high school…less time to read and more reading for school 🙂 Ah, well, at least the voracity part is not necessarily required for the passion part–what’s important is that she continues to enjoy reading!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree and hope that she sticks to it 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person