Tahitian Lime Pie

 Apparently the key lime is native to South East Asia - it is a small lime, with lots of seeds, high acidity and strong aroma. Hey, this sounds like the limes we get back home! This lime was introduced to Florida from where it spread to Mexico and California. The pie I am making today is meant to be made with the key lime, but since I do not get key limes here, I am making it with my own Tahitian Limes from my tree. The Tahitian lime that I have at home is green when young and turns yellow when ripe.  Has almost no seeds and is larger than the key lime.

Whatever the differences, the pie turned out looking and tasting absolutely amazing.  A perfect Christmas dessert to be enjoyed with the whole family.

Ingredients:

200 grams Digestive Biscuits

100 grams softened butter

1 1/2 tins condensed milk (standard 397 gram tin)

6 egg yolks

3/4 cup lime juice

4 tablespoons of lime zest

5-6 teaspoons raspberry jam.  Sieve the jam and remove the seeds.

1 cup thick cream

4 tablespoons tequila

2-3 teaspoons icing sugar

1 23 cm pie tin with a collapsible base

Some slices of lime, lime zest and raspberries for decoration

Method:

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line your pie tin. 

Roughly break up biscuits into quarters and place them in a food processor. Blitz it till you get fine crumbs.  Now add the butter and mix well so that the crumbs start to clump together.

Place the mixture in your pie tin, and using your fingers, make an even layer. This step took quite a while as I wanted the base to be even and reaching up to the sides. Bake this for 8 minutes in the oven.  Reduce the temperature of the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Set baked pie shell aside, in its container.

Next, get the ingredients for the filling.

The condensed milk is sickly sweet - so add the lime juice and the lime zest to it and keep whisking with a fork,  tasting as you go, till you get the right mix of sweet and tangy in your mouth.  You do not want it to be too sweet or too tangy.  

Now mix the egg yolks in:

The colour becomes creamy and quite attractive with the smell of lime very prominent.  Pour this mixture into the pre baked shell.  I have placed the pie tin in a larger platter as my base is detachable and I did not want to disturb the shell.  Tap gently on the sides of the platter so that the mix is spread evenly.

Add 5 - 6 teaspoons of sieved raspberry jam and swirl it around using a long skewer.  Add a little bit of extra lime zest along the edges.

Bake at 160 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes.  The centre of the pie should still be slightly wobbly.

Keep pie in the fridge to set.  It needs at least two to three hours in the fridge before it can be unmoulded.

Make the tequila cream just before serving. Whisk together the cream, icing sugar and tequila till it becomes thick. 

Unmould the pie carefully and place it on a serving dish.  Place a generous blob of the tequila cream in the centre of the pie. Leave the rest of the cream in the container for extra serves. Decorate with lime slices, lime zest and fresh raspberries.

This pie is tangy, sweet and boozy all at once. Perfect for the food coma that we all look forward to on Christmas day!