Purple Kumara ( better known as sweet potato) or potentially an Ube tart! There’s a bit of debate on what a fresh Ube / Purple yam looks like. Descriptions of the flavour make me lean towards it being ube sooo… I’m leaving it here for discussion and at least with this recipe it should work with whatever purple starch you end up getting haha.

I got mine from a local Asian supermarket where they named it a purple kumara - but you also cannot rely on them to know how it’ll be interpreted by us ‘fussy’ millennials

There is a distinct sweet, nutty and slight bitter aftertaste to the roasted Purple Kumara which needs that browned butter and cream to lighten and create this indulgent but healthier dessert.

Recipe

This should make around 8 mini tarts

Pastry

Peep the flaky pastry recipe here for the original or find mine here

113g butter unsalted thinly sliced (freeze at least 15 mins before using) - I used Westgold
45ml water ice cold
15ml apple cider vinegar chilled

175g flour plain/low protein
1/2 tsp sugar raw caster
1 tsp salt

Note: I actually made double this amount (so following Flavor Benders measurements) above and ended up with 710g of pastry I used half, forming 355g disc, this can make eight mini tarts.

Purple Kumara Filling (makes 8 mini tarts or should fill a 8-9in pie/pyrex dish)

395-400g mashed roasted purple kumara or ube (around 2-3)
1/4c browned butter
1 tsp Vanilla paste generous
50 ml cream higher fat preferred
10g / 1 Tbsp wheat starch loose
50g brown sugar
50g caster sugar
30ml condensed milk
1 beaten egg

Get moving with

Prepare your pastry - these need at least an hour in the freezer or 2 hours in the fridge. Measure out everything you need, I like to leave my chilled ingredients in the freezer (i.e. water and vinegar added together and butter) right before I use it. I don’t bother to chill my flour.
Mix your salt and sugar into the flour. Rub butter in with fingertips. Once the flours all coated the butter and you’ve worked it for about 30secs - 1 min add half the water, rubbing in and then add water as you see fit. It should just come together and you’re always wanting to touch the dough as little as possible
Form into a disc or two discs up to you and wrap with cling film and rest in the fridge for at least an hour. Overnight is best.
Preheat your oven to Bake 180C / 375 f
Prepare your filling - Mix all your fillings ingredients together. Browned butter just means you cook out your butter until it becomes a beautiful caramelised brown, this deepens the flavour so much!
Fill your tarts - Cut your pastry into four portions - I would recommend weighing each so around 44-45g each. Roll out super thin and about 1 in more than the tart case. I rolled mine out to about 7in diameter. Fill your mini tarts cases, pushing firmly on the bottom and then gently push into the edges - use a rolling pin to square off your pastry.
Fill just 1/2cm shy of the top. These do puff up a little bit but will flatten once you leave them to cool so keep that in mind. I managed to fill and use all of my filling!
Freeze them 15 minutes before you bake, put them into the oven straight from the freezer. Makes SUCH a difference!
Bake for 30 minutes in the middle of your oven on a tray (preheated to 180C 375 f)
Eat it all up! These have such a beautiful unique flavour which highlights our healthy and delicious purple kumara. A dusting of icing sugar creates a beautiful colour contrast and makes it even more of a dessert! Serve with more butter mmMMm.. or even Purple Kumara ice cream.. you can find that recipe over on Mae Mae’s Kitchen !

May be of Interest to You

There are no colour additives, only the natural bright purple colour this vegetable gives off.
This pastry was made a week before and left in the freezer. Defrosted for about 15-20 mins. Cut into four and flattened quite thin. It still puffed and has an impressive multitude of layers for a pastry that requires no laminating. I made my next lot of four about a week later and no problems. Pastry in the freezer and layered then rolled out so my hands barely touched it/ no kneading. The filling was left in the fridge and was fine but I wouldn’t go past a week!
The bigger chunks of butter mean more layers. If you want less layer i.e. less puff, rub your butter in more BUT be sure it isn’t melting away into it!
I did mine in two cooks. Four at time to ensure my oven didn’t decrease in temperature too quickly.