pudding Archives - Sugar et al

Easy Microwave Banana And Chocolate Chunk Pudding

29|10|2015

I don’t know about you but I cannot imagine my kitchen without a microwave. While moving houses in the recent past (4 times in 3 years) I made sure that it is the first of the electronic items to get plugged in…even before my beloved mixer and food processor. But coming to think of it, have I done anything with it other than reheating and defrosting food? Nope! Okay, maybe precook potatoes. Yet, it is an indispensable item that saves you time and a lot of dishes. I had 3 ripe bananas and no intention of making muffins, pancakes or even banana bread. So I did a Google search and came across this fabulous recipe.

I made it twice this week. The first time I was unsure how it would turn out so I halved the recipe and just threw everything casually into a microwave safe bowl. Voila! It was done in 4 minutes. It was golden, sweet, soft, smelling of brown sugar and butter (you know, the one) spongy, gooey in some places and very slightly crusty on the sides. In other words, it was enlightenment! ‘Don’t underestimate the power of your microwave!’ The boys came back form school and finished it in one go with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
I just had to share this recipe so I made it again and added a cup of dark chocolate chunks. And salted caramel sauce to serve! The original recipe calls for sliced bananas on top but I chose to mash up the entire banana for the pudding. You could go either ways. If you do not have a one-liter microwave safe dish, use two smaller ones like I did. Please excuse the photos..I’ve shot them in a jiffy as I had something else going on.

All I’d say is please make it. It’s too easy, not to give it a try and too delicious for words. Make it to believe it!

Microwave Banana And Chocolate Chunk Pudding (adapted with variation from BBC Goodfood)
Serves 6

100 g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
2 ripe bananas
100 g light muscovado sugar (brown sugar will work as well)
100 g self-raising flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 eggs
2 tbsp milk
1 cup dark chocolate, roughly chopped into big and small chunks (or chocolate chips)
Salted Caramel sauce (store bought or home made)

Put the butter in a 1-litre baking dish and microwave on High for 30 secs-1 min until melted. Add bananas, mash into the melted butter, then add the sugar, flour, cinnamon, eggs and milk. Mix together well. Add the chocolate chunks and give it a stir to distribute evenly in the batter.

Cook on high for 6 mins until cooked through and risen. Check with a fork or a wooden skewer and microwave for a couple of minutes more if not ready. Serve warm, dusted with icing sugar, if you like, with a drizzle of salted caramel sauce and a scoop of ice cream.

White Chocolate And Blueberry Rice Pudding

7|02|2015

I was told that rice pudding was the very first food I tasted when I started on solids as a baby. Which is totally acceptable since a) it is sweet and b) it has rice. Both of which I am extremely fond of. Starting with rice pudding is a ritual at home and making it on special occasions and birthdays is a tradition that my mother keeps up even today. Therefore, this pudding spells absolute comfort for me.

There are so many versions of this pudding. The Indian version known as kheer or payesh that I have grown up eating is a simple mixture of whole milk, sugar and rice simmered together along with cardamom pods for flavour. Saffron, almonds or palm sugar is also occasionally added in for variety. I am pretty contented and convinced about the one that my mother makes that I have never attempted to replicate it. Instead I have my own versions of the rice pudding , mainly different flavour combinations that I have experimented with and served to my family. Thankfully both my boys seem to enjoy rice pudding so this is my go-to dessert for a cosy weekend afternoon.

Since this is such a versatile sweet treat, I have never run out of ideas of the flavours that can go alongside the milk-rice base. This time around, I was also keen on giving it some colour. Blueberries and white chocolate complement each other well and purple is among my favorite shades. So this was an easy one. I was really happy with the outcome. Both, the way it tasted and looked. It has the silky, creamy melt-in-your mouth feel with the right amount of sweetness from the white chocolate. It is not overly sweet as the blueberries do a great job of cutting through the sweetness. This is a pudding that is cooked on the stove-top so it will need a little bit of stirring and supervision as we do not want the rice to stick or burn at the bottom of the pan. Also, if you think the milk is drying up too quickly in the mixture, feel free to add more till you get the desired consistency. This is one dessert that is more about the taste, texture and consistency that you are looking for rather than precise measurements.

Do you recollect (or know) what was the very first food you tasted? Is that something you like to eat today as well?

White Chocolate And Blueberry Rice Pudding
Serves 5

2 cups whole milk
1 cup pouring cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp castor sugar
2/3 cup medium grain (or long grain) rice
150 g white chocolate, roughly chopped
2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
extra blueberries, to serve
shaved white chocolate/coconut flakes, to serve

Combine milk, cream, sugar, vanilla and rice in the saucepan. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until rice is tender. add the white chocolate and blueberries and simmer for a further 15 minutes or until the blueberries have melted completely and tinted the pudding. Continue to add more milk if the mixture sticks to the bottom or becomes dry.

Divide among serving bowls. Top with fresh blueberries and shaved white chocolate or sweetened coconut flakes.

Chia Seed Pudding With Maple Yogurt And Cinnamon Roasted Nectarines

9|01|2015

Easy and healthy Chia seed pudding that involves no cooking. Served with maple yogurt and cinnamon roasted nectarines.

So, I am jumping on the January bandwagon today. Meaning, the food that you guys love to eat in January. Clean, healthy, low-calorie, high-fiber, full of antioxidants…high on Omega-3. To be honest, I wouldn’t be able to explain half of those things to you. What tastes delicious to me is what I eat..what is hassle free to make is what I share! I certainly understand and respect the fact that a lot of people do need to follow dietary restrictions and who knows, I may be one of them at some stage in life. But for now, I am happy to create food that tastes great, super-food or not.

I have not had a lot of experience cooking with Chia seeds and the only recipe I’ve shared before are the Orange Chia Seed Friands. I have been meaning to make this pudding for as long as I came to know that it makes a quick, simple breakfast or on-the-go meal with zero cooking. Could not have been a better time to make this. Plus I had another opportunity to use my favourite almond milk in the recipe. This pudding is truely delicious. It reminds me a lot of a pearl tapioca pudding that I ate as a child. But what makes it for me is the simplicity of preparing it. All you do is mix a handful of ingredients in a mason jar or an air-tight container, store it in the refrigerator overnight and in the morning, breakfast is ready. To make it nutritional and exciting, add your choice of fruits and/or nuts.

You could use coconut milk instead of almond milk. For that matter, any milk that you like to drink. The thickness will however vary according to the consistency. To thicken up the mixture, I have added maple swirled yogurt. I roasted the Nectarines with Cinnamon and maple syrup and also served it with seasonal cherries. Because I was adding sweetened fruit, I dd not add a sweetner to my overnight Chia mixture. If you are using plain fruits, you may want to add 2 tbsps of maple syrup or honey along with the chia seeds. I gave the pudding to my boys to taste. One loved it and asked for more, the other one instantly denied from having another go. But if you are looking for a convenient, fuss free, healthy and tasty recipe, you will not be disappointed.

Chia Seed Pudding with Maple Yoghurt And Cinnamon Roasted Nectarines
Serves 2-3

1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 cup Greek yogurt (1/2 cup to serve)
1/4 cup Chia seeds
1/8th tsp salt (optional)
2 tbsp maple syrup
3-4 Nectarines, stones discarded and cut into wedges
1/2 tsp cinnamon

In an air-tight container, gently whisk the almond milk, 1/2 cup yogurt and until just blended. Whisk in the chia seeds; let stand 30 minutes. Stir to distribute the seeds if they have settled. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

To make the roasted Nectarines, preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees for fan-forced ovens). Place the Nectarine wedges on to a tray lined with baking paper. Add the cinnamon, salt and 1 tbsp maple syrup. Toss to coat evenly. Arrange the wedges cut side up on the tray. Roast for 30 minutes (depending on the softness of the fruit) or until brown with a nice caramelisation.

To make the maple yogurt, add the remaining 1 tbsp maple syrup to the remaining 1/2 cup yogurt. Swirl gently.

To serve, spoon the chia seed pudding into serving bowls. Top with maple yogurt and cinnamon roasted Nectarines and/or any other fruit of your choice.

Toffee Apple Self-Saucing Pudding

29|10|2014

A self saucing pudding with the addition of apples and a delicious toffee caramel sauce. Easy to make and a perfect homemade dessert.

5 years ago, the only pudding I knew of and would make was the bread and butter pudding. Easy to make, easily adapted to include and exclude your preferences and such a great way of eating bread. And of course the rice pudding that was so much more than a pudding. It was a tradition. The first solid food that was ceremoniously fed to me as a baby and thereafter adorned every occasion of my life, big and small. Then one day while desperately looking up on the Internet for a way to fix an under-cooked chocolate lava cake, I discovered the self-saucing pudding. I was fascinated at the concept of a pudding that uses the very same ingredients in the recipe and creates its own sauce. After I made my first one with satisfactory results, I was hooked on. Now the only problem was, which one to make! They are so good…every one of them!

The key to a good self-saucing pudding in my humble opinion lies in ratio of the pudding to the sauce. We want to stick our spoons in that sauce that is why we make it in the first place. This one has lots of sauce. The cake almost floats on top a rich caramel sauce. But let me tell you what is the best part of this toffee/caramel pudding. You don’t need to make caramel separately…so no burning sugar, no thermometers…just plain and simple mixing of ingredients. In fact, there is no egg in the picture either. But it works…like magic! Apples and nuts give the pudding an interesting texture and plenty of bite.

I figured out that the pudding tastes even better the next day as some of the sauce is soaked up further by the cake turning it into a gooey, food porn-ish mess. You get what I mean? Gooey messes are so welcome when it comes to the sweeter side of things. A gentle dusting of icing sugar completes the pudding and a some vanilla ice cream on the side is perfect to make you lose your mind. I love photographing such kind of food because you get to eat some of the deliciousness as you go. They are part of your shots.
You have to cut into the interiors to give the world an insight into a what is called a self-saucing pudding. Agree with me?

Toffee Apple Self-Saucing Pudding
Serves 4

60 g butter, chopped
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
2 tablespoons golden syrup/maple syrup (I used golden syrup)
2 medium apples peeled, cored and chopped into 2 cm cubes
1/2 cup nuts, your choice (I used mixed)
icing sugar, to dust
Vanilla ice-cream or whipped cream, to serve

For the sauce:
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
40 g butter, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup boiling water.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a 6-cup (1.5 L) capacity oven-proof dish. Combine the butter and milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 2 minutes or until butter melts. Remove from heat and add the sugar, flour and golden syrup and stir until combined. Fold in the chopped apples and nuts.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
To make the sauce, combine the sugar, butter and water in a medium heatproof bowl. Stir until butter is melted. Stir in the cream. Pour slowly over the back of spoon into the pudding mixture.

Bake in preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until centre is cooked through. Cool slightly, then dust with icing sugar. Serve warm with ice-cream or whipped cream.