Dark Chocolate and Pear Pudding

  

410 G PEAR HALVES IN SYRUP

1/4 TSP CRACKED GREEN PEPPERCORNS

1/4 TSP GROUND STAR ANISE

1 1/2 TBSP BUTTER

2 EGGS
1/3 C CASTOR SUGAR

1 TSP BAKING POWDER
1 TSP BAKING SODA
1/2 C BUTTERMILK
1 1/2 TBSP BOURNVILLE COCOA 
35 G DARK LINDT CHOCOLATE 70% COCOA
1 1/2 TBSP CAKE FLOUR
1/2 TBSP CORN FLOUR
1 TSP APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

Amarula Sauce:

3/4 c Milk, 2 Tots Amarula Cream Liqueur, 1 tbsp Butter, 1/4 c sugar, 2 tbsp pear syrup 

I developed this recipe completely from scratch. I was invited to a supper evening at a friends house about a month ago and was asked to bring a dessert. I had about an hour in hand and did not feel like taking another store bought malva pudding to dinner. So, I opened the cupboard, scratched around, found a tin of pears and decided to come up with this delicious treat. Hope you all enjoy!    

PREPARATION  

Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Drain the syrup off the pear halves and set both aside. Heat the butter in a saucepan, add the star anise and the cracked green peppercorns. When the butter is hot add the pear halves to the pan and fry them for about 8 - 10 minutes to give them a nice caramelised appearance. When they are ready, place them in the bottom of a bake proof, glass or ceramic loaf pan and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and castor sugar till light and creamy. Add the buttermilk and blend. Next add the cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cake flour and corn flour and mix well. Chop up the dark chocolate into chunky bits and mix into the batter. Finally add the vinegar (I use apple cider, but you can use normal spirit vinegar) and blend the mixture. Pour the batter over the pears and bake at 180 °C for 40 - 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the Amarula sauce by bring to a gentle simmer the milk, Amarula cream Liqueur, butter, sugar and two dessert spoons of the syrup drained off of the pear halves. Reduce the sauce for about 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes to achieve a thin caramel sauce. Note, the sauce will be soak up by the cake, so it must remain thin. If the sauce is too thick, the cake will not absorb it and will remain quite bitter. Once the sauce is done, pour it over the cake and leave to stand for at least 10 minutes before eating. Served best with custard or ice cream.            

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DARK CHOCOLATE & PEAR PUDDING

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