INDIE-AFRICAN MIELIE MEAL PUDDING

I have a real treat for you guys today, a delicious recipe I tried out, which I have adapted from Maria Parloa's Delicate Indian Pudding. So, last Wednesday I was visiting a couple of friends and they were talking about organizing a couple of hope bags as a group for some of the people in the Masiphumelele settlement. One of the items that goes into the bag is a packet of mielie-meal (maize meal / corn meal), for some reason we got onto talking about how to cook and eat mielie-meal. Of course pap and wors was mentioned; then I heard an "Oh ... wow, I didn't know that you could make a pudding out of maize meal, I must try that. Look there is a recipe at the back of the bag." Funny enough it reminded me of when a couple years back, my mother used to cook up mielie-meal for the dog, with the left over gravy from Sunday roast (lucky bugger). Every now and then, I would steal some of "the dog's" mielie-meal and turn it into a pudding, much like one would make sago. Bringing it to boil in some milk, beating in an egg and sugar, and mixing in raisins, nuts and chopped cherries; it was quite delicious. 

All this thinking, brought me to the conclusion that I just had to do a post on baked mielie-meal pudding; which in addition is traditionally a staple South African food. So here is the recipe and boy will you love it, I have been eating it the whole week ... had to start gyming again.

1L MILK

3 TBSP MAPLE SYRUP

½ CUP RAISINS

2 TBSP MIELIE-MEAL, HEAPED

⅓ CUP FINE DESICCATED COCONUT

1 TBSP BUTTER

3 EGGS

1 TSP SALT

¼ TSP GINGER

¼ TSP CINNAMON

¼ CUP MARASCHINO CHERRIES, HALVED

PREPARATION Preheat the oven to 180°C. Heat the milk, maple syrup and the raisins (I used a mixture of dried sultanas and raisins) in a double boiler, sprinkle in the mielie-meal and the coconut, and stir continuously. Cook for about 10 minutes; meanwhile beat the egg, salt, ginger and cinnamon till light and fluffy. Once the mielie-meal mixture is finished cooking, stir in the butter and remove from the heat. Next slowly add the mielie-meal mixture to the beaten egg, mixing it in gently and then fold in the Maraschino cherries. Bake at 180°C for 1 hour, or until golden brown.

Serve with pouring custard, fresh cream or my favourite, dusted with icing sugar and topped with crème fraîche. Tip: To prevent the pudding from caving in once the mielie-meal pudding is done, switch off the oven and leave the pudding to stand inside for about 5 minutes, before removing from the oven.

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INDIE-AFRICAN MIELIE MEAL PUDDING