Mango Tart with Chinese Five Spice

Instructions

• Make the tart dough
• In a medium-sized mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, Chinese five spice, and salt. In a separate small bowl, use a fork to beat together the egg yolk, cold water, and vanilla. Place the small bowl in the refrigerator until ready to use.
• Add the cubed butter to the flour mixture and use your hands to toss and coat the butter pieces in flour. Using a pastry cutter or a fork, cut the butter pieces into the flour until the butter pieces are no larger than the size of a pea.
• Pour the cold egg yolk mixture into the dough and stir together with a fork to mix. Use your hands to press the dough together into a ball. Place a piece of parchment paper on your work surface and place the dough on top. Push down into a disk, sprinkle flour on top, and roll out, using your tart pan as a guide to determine the size you need. You want the dough to be about 2-3″ larger in diameter than the tart pan. If the dough is too sticky too roll out, refrigerate it for a few minutes to chill. Cover the rolled dough loosely with plastic wrap and transfer with the parchment into the refrigerator to chill for at least one hour and up to overnight.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit 3-5 minutes until it becomes slightly more malleable. Flip it over the top of the tart pan and slowly peel away the parchment (reserve the parchment for later. Use your hands to gently press it down into the bottom of the tart pan and up the sides. Be sure that it’s pressed down well along the sides and at the point where the bottom and the sides meet. Roll your rolling pin over the top to remove excess dough. If needed, you can use some of the excess dough to patch it up in places where it’s thin or you don’t have enough dough. Cover with plastic and place back in the fridge for at least one hour and up to overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 375F. Press parchment paper or aluminum foil tightly against the tart dough. Fill with pie weights or dried beans or uncooked rice and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove the pie weights and parchment and bake for another 7-8 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.
• Make the pastry cream
• In a medium bowl, add the egg yolks, cornstarch and 1/3 cup of granulated sugar. Whisk vigorously until the mixture is very pale and slightly fluffy in texture. In a small bowl, add 2 Tbsp of cold water. Sprinkle the gelatin powder on top in a thin layer and set aside.
• In a small saucepan, heat the milk, vanilla and salt until it just starts to simmer. Very slowly stream part of the hot milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Continue to gradually stream in all of the milk while whisking. Transfer the mixture back into the sauce pan and cook, whisking constantly until the pasty cream thickens, about 5 minutes. Once it has noticeably thickened, pause for a few seconds to see if it’s starting to bubble. Once that happens, keep whisking and cook for another one minute. This step is crucial to make sure that your thickened custard doesn’t later become runny.
• Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. Then whisk in the gelatin until dissolved. If your pastry cream has lumps, run it through a strainer. Otherwise, keep your pastry cream in the bowl and press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until completely cold, ideally overnight.
• Complete the filling
• Once your pastry cream is cold, start preparing the rest of the filling. In a food processor, add the freeze-dried mango and 1 1/2 Tbsp of sugar. Pulse until the mango is finely ground into a powder. Pour in the cream and stir to moisten the mango powder. Pulse until the cream has thickened and increased in volume. It should be fully whipped, but be careful not to overwhip it. Stir in the lime juice.
• Remove the pastry cream from the fridge and loosen it with a whisk or spatula. Then, gently fold in the whipped cream mixture until fully combined.
• Pour the filling into the tart shell. Arrange the mango slices on top in a decorative pattern. Place in the refrigerator for an hour or two to set before serving.