Matcha gives this baked custard a unique colour and flavour, which pairs beautifully with ginger-poached pears, while the crumb mixture adds texture and crunch.
Ingredients
Ginger-poached pears
Rice malt crumb
Method
Main
1.Preheat oven to 150C. Whisk cream, milk and matcha in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Whisk yolks and sugar in a bowl to combine, then whisk in hot cream mixture. Pour into a jug, skim any bubbles from the surface, then pour into a shallow 800ml ovenproof dish. Place in a roasting pan lined with a tea towel, pour in hot water to come halfway up sides of dish and bake until set with a slight wobble in the centre (50 minutes to 1 hour). Cool to room temperature and refrigerate until chilled (3-4 hours).
2.Meanwhile, for ginger-poached pears, stir sugar, ginger, lemon rind and juice and 750ml water in a saucepan over medium-high heat, bring to a simmer, then add pears. Cover directly with a round of baking paper, weight with a plate to keep pears submerged, reduce heat to medium and simmer until pears are tender when pierced (10-15 minutes). Set aside in poaching liquid, and drain pears to serve.
3.For rice malt crumb, preheat oven to 180C. Stir ingredients in a bowl to form a crumbly mixture, spread on an oven tray lined with baking paper and bake, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp (8-10 minutes). Store in an airtight container.
4.Serve matcha custard topped with ginger-poached pears and scattered with rice malt crumb.
Note Matcha is finely ground green tea. It’s available from specialist tea shops and Japanese grocers. Brown rice flour and rice malt syrup are available from health-food shops.
Notes
