Sharon Picone

21 March 2009

Stewed Rooibos (Red Bush Tea) Fruit with Amarula Custard

Posted by sharon under: Desserts & Puddings; VEGETARIAN RECIPES .

Rooibos (literal translation from Afrikaans means Red Bush) tea is South Africa’s liquid elixir. Rich in antioxidants, it’s not only healthy but also is a fabulous cooking ingredient. It is especially well-suited in marinades as this recipe for stewed fruit will attest. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 cups water
4 Rooibos tea bags or 4 teaspoons *loose leaves (*See Cook’s Note)
3 cups mixed dried fruit (a combination of your choice of peaches, plums, apricots, pears and apple)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup white port
2 cinnamon sticks
2-inch piece vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped out (reserve pod)

*COOK’S NOTE

To Brew Tea with Loose Leaves: Steep the 4 teaspoons of Rooibos tea leaves in 2 cups of boiling water. Allow to brew for 30 minutes. Strain and proceed with step 2.

1. In a large saucepan, add the water and tea bags and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium, cover the saucepan and simmer tea bags for 15 minutes. Remove tea bags and set saucepan aside.

2. Add dried fruit, sugar, water, port, cinnamon sticks, vanilla bean seeds and vanilla pod to the tea concentrate. Over medium heat, bring stew to boiling point, then immediately turn down heat to low and simmer partially covered for 25 minutes, stirring gently a few times during cooking. Remove cover and continue to simmer for a further 5 minutes. The fruit syrup with thicken slightly as it cools.

The fruit must be tender and have expanded, but not be so soft that it falls apart. Remove vanilla pod. Serve the fruit warm with Amarula Custard (recipe follows).

AMARULA CUSTARD

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups plus ¼ cup soymilk or 2% regular milk
6 teaspoons arrowroot
1 whole egg, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
½ cup Amarula liquer
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

In a small heat-proof bowl, beat the ¼ cup milk, arrowroot, egg, sugar, Amarula and salt until thoroughly combined. In a separate medium saucepan, scald the remaining 1 3/4 cups of milk over medium heat until steaming (it should be shimmering as though it’s just about to start boiling, but remove it from the stove before it starts to boil). Slowly pour about ½ cup of the hot milk into the egg mixture and stirring all the while, then pour mixture back into the saucepan, removing any lumps with a wire whisk.

Return saucepan to the stovetop and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring continuously to prevent the bottom from scorching. Turn heat down to low and continue stirring the custard for another minute to thicken. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste. Strain through a large sieve to remove any lumps. Serve warm, poured over the stewed fruit.

One Comment so far...

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.