Marang Brown Sugar Gratin

Ever since I saw the recipe for Raspberry Brown Sugar Gratin featured on The Smitten Kitchen, it drove me nuts thinking how simple it looked (only 3 ingredients, yes, THREE) and how delicious, just from the photos! But Deb of SK is in New York, while I am here, all the way in Brunei. Where in heavens name can I find fresh raspberries? There are frozen ones in the posher supermarkets, of course, but they just don't have the same feel, you know.

Never one for coloring inside the lines, I decided that well, there are many other fruits here in the tropics and might as well use what we have in abundance. However what goes with sour cream and brown sugar? Hmm... after a bit of thought (all 3 seconds of it), I had my A-ha moment - I shall use Marang! In Brunei, this fruit with its tender, sweet, white flesh is also called Tarap, and I had written about it a few posts back. So I only made one small ramekin to try this out, and here's a quick pictorial before we get to the recipe.

Hahaha, don't you just love the last picture? It's a clear demonstration of my gluttony - so sinful! Anyway, here are the four ingredients and bear in mind I only made one small ramekin, so just multiply this recipe accordingly if you're serving to guests.

Marang Brown Sugar Gratin
Ingredients:

1-2 tablespoons marang flesh, pitted

2 tablespoons sour cream

2 tablespoons soft, brown sugar

Almond slivers, for sprinkling

Method:

1. Layer the ramekin as follows (bottom to top): marang, sour cream, brown sugar and almonds.

2. Bake under a hot broiler for about 2-3 until the sugar starts to caramelize. I found that my almonds burnt way earlier than the sugar, but I like the taste of burnt nuts. If you don't, another option is is to add the almonds slightly later in the baking process to have them just browned.

3. Serve immediately and brace yourself for compliments!

Hokay, here are alternatives to the ingredients so you can serve these many, many times with different variations:
Fruit - use berries, soft peaches, bananas, avocado, dragon fruit, oh the list is endless...
Sour cream - use creme fraiche or thick yoghurt
Nuts - use toasted pecans, walnuts, cashews, macadamia

Gosh that was soooo wonderfully yummy, I think I'll go make another one...

Fruit From My Homeland 5 - Tarap (Marang)

Ever seen one of these? It's called anything ranging from Marang/ Johey Oak/ Green Pedalai /Madang/ Tarap/Breadfruit Cousin (Artocarpus odoratissimus), but here in Brunei it's just simply Tarap. It's native to the island of Borneo, which coincidently, is also where I happen to live. Tarap is one of my favourite fruits when it's in season because it's very aromatic (notice a trend here? I'm so into smelly fruits!) and the off-white coloured flesh is so juicy (another trend). For other scientific details about the fruit, read further at Wiki or my other favorite, Foodista.

The broad spines that cover the Tarap 

 

The fleshy arils. They look a bit like garlic cloves all bunched up together.

This is merely an introductory post to Tarap, for I'm planning to bake something nice with this soon. 

The edible seeds. You either roast or boil them and they taste just like nuts. Yep, we don't waste much over here. We're just a curious bunch of people who want to taste everything that potentially doesn't  kill us... Lol!