Fried Meringue with Pandan Creme Patisserie

(Adapted from "Poh's Kitchen"- Poh Ling Yeow)

I am such a big fan of  Poh Ling Yeow, Runner Up from Masterchef Australia Season 1.  I felt so honoured to meet her during Good Food and Wine show in Melbourne couple weeks ago, believe me I had a star struck moment. That day just encouraged me to go back to Poh's Kitchen Cookbook and tried more of her recipe. I baked one of her recipe of Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce and turned into a success.

My Star Struck Moment with Poh Ling Yeow

Since I bought Poh's cookbook, I always wanted to try this fried meringue recipe as they just look very appealing especially she created the recipe with Pandan Creme Pattisiere, which you may be aware I always have a thing for Pandan leaf. Honestly, my first thought of deep frying the meringue made me wonder if the meringue will turn soggy or undercook. Guess what? My fear of cooking the meringue turned into something beautiful. One thing that I have to admit though, I am not a big fan of cooking Sugar spun, not only they are time consuming, they are also one of the mixture that need to work very quickly as the sugar are set before you know it (I may need to have a few lesson to work on my sugar spun). Overall, I love the result of fried meringue with lovely Pandan filling, they are one of mouth watering dish and will give you a 'wow' result on the dining table.

Fried Meringue with Pandan Creme Patissiere

Ingredients for Pandan Creme Patisserie

• 2 Pandan leaves shredded into strips and knotted or 1tsp Pandan Aroma Pasta
• 400 ml full cream milk
• 5 egg yolks
• 100g caster sugar
• 50g plain flour
• 40g unsalted butter dice
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• Method to make the Pandan Crème Patisserie
• In a medium saucepan bring pandan knots and milk to the boil. Whisk egg yolks and sugar till mixture is a thick, pale and fluffy. Whisk in flour until well incorporated and add the pandan aroma pasta (if using). Whisk in the hot milk till combined. Remove pandan knots and strain the mixture to avoid any lumps. Cook over a medium to high heat, whisking continuously till mixture becomes quite thick. Transfer mixture to a mixing bowl and gradually whisk in cubes of butter till all the butter is incorporated into the mixture. Cover the surface with cling wrap to cool till required.

For Meringue Mixture

8 egg whites

• 1/2 cup plain flour sifted
• 1/2 cup cornflour sifted
• 1L vegetable oil
• caster sugar

Method to make the Meringue Mixture

1. Beat egg whites till stiff peaks. Gently whisk in flours till incorporated. Heat oil so that a small dollop of meringue mix cooks until golden in about 15 seconds.

1. 2. Put 1 tablespoon of meringue into a ladle, make a well in the middle, then drop a teaspoonful of the pandan crème patisserie into it and then spoon some more meringue over the top to seal the crème. Lower the ladle over the oil and quickly slide the meringue ball into the oil. If there is hole on the surface quickly try to seal it over with some meringue mix. Cook till golden. Roll in caster sugar immediately.
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4. Ingredients for Sugar Spun
5. 225g Caster Sugar
6. 250 g Water
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8. Method for Sugar Spun
9. 1. Bring Water and Sugar to simmer in a saucepan.
10. 2. Use Pastry brush dipped in cold water to brush the inner side of the pan to prevent the sugar crystals forming while simmering. 
11. 3. Using Sugar/ Jam Thermometer, cook the syrup until reaches 155º. Immediately remove from the heat and plunge the pan into cold water to halt the cooking process.
12. 4. To spin the sugar, take two forks back to back and hold tightly. Dip these into the mixture, pull them out so that sugar comes out as thin threads. Shake the forks over the top of fried meringue. 
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