Friday, August 24, 2007

Steamed ginger pudding

After realising how close spring is, I had a sudden craving to make the most of winter food before the last thing I feel like is a plate of stew or a bowl of thick soup. I wanted a steamed pudding, smothered in thick, hot custard, and the obvious choice was my great-aunt's recipe for steamed ginger pudding. Although steamed puddings take an hour or two to cook, they are a cinch to whip up and, provided you don't let the water boil dry, can pretty much be left to themselves to cook once you've put them in the saucepan to steam.

Steamed puddings were always served for dessert at winter lunches at my great-aunt's house. My dad is extremely partial to plum pudding, so that was the usual fare, but she would occasionally serve up this steamed ginger pudding. It's a lovely soft pudding with a gentle gingery spice that just begs for seconds and this is one of my all-time favourite desserts. It must be served with thick custard - it's a match made in heaven. Cream and ice-cream are nice accompaniments but the sweetness of the custard marries beautifully with the gingery tang of the pudding.

Steamed ginger pudding

250g plain flour
125g butter
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons treacle
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons bicarb soda
1/2 cup milk

Cream the butter and sugar. Mix in the warmed treacle. Dissolve the soda in the milk and stir in. Sift the flour and ginger and mix in. Put into a greased pudding tin and steam for two hours.

5 comments:

Cakelaw said...

This sounds delicious! I am a huge fan of steamed pud with custard, and my mum made these a lot while I was growing up. I am also a huge fan of ginger - I will definitely have to try this.

Melinda said...

Hi Cakelaw - thanks for your lovely comments. This pudding is real comfort food, so I hope you enjoy it!

Dharm said...

Hi Melinda!
Just dropped by to visit your site. Congrats on joining the DB's and welcome to the group! I spent 5 years in Melb and Loved it! Hope to catch you aroung! Take care now.

Elle said...

Mmmm, you had me at treacle...love anything with treacle in it :) The custard sounds like the perfect go with.

Morven said...

Sounds delish and makes me want to rush out and by a steamed pudding bowl.