March 8, 2009
Hunger Management
Sunshine crumble
Turn your wet days into bright ones with this flamboyantly flavoured pineapple and passionfruit crumble
By Tan Hsueh Yun
Weeks of rainy weather can do funny things to a person's mind.
Damp brain cells start to crave warm, sunny weather. Sunshine now, please. They start to hanker after over-the-top alcoholic drinks in fish bowl- sized glasses topped with paper umbrellas.
Then they conjure up sea breezes, powdery sand and hammocks strung up between coconut trees.
My fevered brain has been in overdrive, what with one rain-soaked day following another.
I decided I would make a bright, flamboyantly flavoured dessert to brighten up the overcast days.
A fruit crumble, I thought. Something to eat with ice cream. Berries are a natural choice, but to fill a baking dish with them, I would have to re-finance my home. Ever gulped at the price of a punnet of raspberries?
Apples are another classic crumble choice but they seemed a little, well, dowdy for what I had in mind.
So I decided to break with tradition and use tropical fruit instead. After all, some restaurants have had success with mangoes and bananas.
I decided I would use pineapple and add macadamia nuts to the crumble topping, creating what I hoped would be Hawaii in a baking dish.
My first attempt was good but it lacked oomph. So I added rolled oats and demerara or raw sugar to the crumble mix to up the crunch quotient.
The sugar worked a charm. Not all the large crystals melt when cooked, leaving pockets of sweet crunchiness. The oats, though, did not really go with the fruit. Okay, keep the sugar, nix the oats but what else could I do to pep it up?
Then I remembered the packs of passionfruit pulp I had stashed away in the freezer.
Passionfruit have exactly the sort of slightly wild, in-your-face flavour that I sorely needed. I added the pulp to my crumble and it was just perfect, especially when topped with a scoop of macadamia nut brittle ice cream.
Along the way, I realised that I did not even need to crank up the oven to make this dessert.
I could just cook the fruit a little longer on the stove top, say 25 minutes, and leave out the cornstarch. The crumble can be made in a toaster oven.
Simply line the toaster oven tray with baking paper, spread the crumble topping evenly over it (do this in batches) and toast till golden brown. But watch the oven like a hawk because the crumble can go from pale to burnt in a second.
To serve, spoon the cooked fruit into bowls and top with the crisp crumble and ice cream.
With the rain lashing against the windows and the lights in the living room turned on in the middle of the day, I really appreciated my little bowl of sunny, happy fruit.
MAKE IT YOURSELF: PINEAPPLE AND PASSIONFRUIT CRUMBLE
For the filling:
1 large pineapple (1.2 to 1.3kg), skinned, cored and cut into bite-size pieces
50g butter
2 Tbs dark rum (optional)
Pulp from 3 to 4 passionfruit
1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tsp water
1 Tbs demerara sugar, from Cold Storage and Isetan supermarkets
For the topping:
100g plain flour
3 Tbs demerara sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
80g cold, salted butter, cut into 1cm cubes
50g chopped macadamia nuts, or slivered almonds
Ice cream to serve
METHOD
1. Heat oven to 180 deg C, set oven rack in the middle position.
2. To make the filling, heat the butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When it starts to bubble, add the pineapple pieces and cook for about 15 minutes, turning the fruit often until it softens. Using a pair of tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer the pineapple to an ovensafe glass or ceramic baking dish. I use a glass Pyrex dish measuring 28cm by 18cm. One measuring 20cm by 20cm will work too.
3. Add the rum and passionfruit pulp to the juices left in the pan, stir to mix. Mix in the cornstarch mixture - it will thicken the juices very quickly. Turn off the heat, stir till smooth and pour over the pineapple. Sprinkle the sugar over the filling.
4. To make the topping, measure out flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into a medium mixing bowl and stir well with a spoon. Scatter the cubes of cold butter over the mixture and using your fingertips or a pastry blender, rub the butter into the flour mixture until it looks like coarse sand. Do not worry if there are a few big pieces left. Stir in the nuts. Sprinkle topping evenly over the fruit.
5. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the crumble is lightly browned. Scoop out into bowls and serve with ice cream on the side.
Serves 6 to 8
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