Strawberry Dairy Free Tart

This is a delicious tart recipe that can easily be modified to be a gluten-free and low sugar version. Use oat flour as an alternative to plain flour and maple syrup instead of caster sugar. Pistachio meal also works nicely as a substitute if you don’t have hazelnut meal or if you wish to add a little more colour to the tart.

INGREDIENTS

Tart Crust:

• 1/3 cup of shredded coconut toasted
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup hazelnut meal
• 1/3 cup almond meal
• 1 cup plain flour (gluten-free alternative can be used)
• pinch of salt
• 4 1/2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
• 1/4 cup caster sugar (or maple syrup)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (or ½ teaspoon of vanilla powder)

Filling:

• 2 cup strawberries
• 1 ½ cups coconut milk
• 5 tablespoons caster sugar (or maple syrup)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoon rose water (optional)
• 5 sheets high-grade gelatin (agar agar for an alternative)

To serve:

• Yoghurt
• Fresh strawberries

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease a tart tin with a removable base. Round or rectangle tins both work well with this recipe.
2. Add the entire tart crust ingredients into a food processor and blend until it all comes together forming a nice dough. The dough consistency should not be too moist but not too dry and crumbly either. It’s a balance of finding the perfect middle point. Using your hands bring the dough together and place it in the tart tin, spread the dough out with the tips of your fingers to form the shape of the tart tin. Prick the crust with a fork.
3. Place a sheet of greaseproof baking paper over the tart crust and add any kind of dried beans or rice to help stop the crust rising while it's blind baking.
4. Place the tart in the oven, check it after 20mins and remove the greaseproof baking paper and beans/rice. Place back in the oven for 5 more mins to allow the base of the crust to cook further. The crust should be a nice light golden colour. Place on a cooling rack and set aside until it’s cooled right down before putting it in the fridge for at least 1-2 hrs. You can also put it in the freezer to quicken up the process, be mindful it does not freeze completely.

Tart filling:

1. Add the washed and chopped strawberries into a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the sugar (or maple syrup) and lemon juice and allow it to simmer for 15mins until the strawberries are soft and easily falls apart.
2. In the meantime submerge the gelatin sheets into a bowl of cold water and set aside for 5 mins unit they become soft.
3. Take the soft gelatin sheets out of the water and squeeze off any excess water. Stir them into the mixture until the gelatin has completely dissolved.
4. Using a food processor or blender, add the strawberry mix and blend until it’s a smooth consistency with no lumps. Remove ¼ cup of the mix at this stage and set this aside, this is the strawberry mixture that will marble the top of the tart later.
5. Add in the rose water and coconut milk to the main mixture in the processor or blender, and blend further producing a slightly lighter pink mix. Allow the mixture to cool down, take the chilled crust out of the fridge and fill with the main lighter pink mixture.
6. To marble the top of the tart; Use the set aside darker pink mixture and dot the mix in randomly on the top, using a teaspoon. With the end of the teaspoon (a chopstick works well also), gently swirl each dot of the mixture to create a swirl marble pattern.
7. Place the tart back in the fridge to set preferably overnight.
8. Serve with a good dollop of yoghurt and freshly sliced strawberries.

Recipe and photos by Bonnie Coumbe. See her website here and Instagram here.