“If you do your fair day’s work, you are certain to get your fair day’s wage – in praise or pudding, whichever happens to suit your taste.”
Alexander Smith
It’s the happy time of the month again, yes indeed the 27th, and it’s the Daring Bakers at their best. One small difference this time thought, the Daring Bakers take on the English at their doorstep and become Daring Steamers! Well, the proof lies in the pudding, as they say, so a steaming we will go…
The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.
… Gosh, I thought I hadn’t read it right. Once, twice, thrice … where was the oven? Quick whisper with Meeta and Aparna on twitter, and there I had it. Was a technique laden challenge sans the oven, one that sounded mighty intriguing to me, and even better that it was an English pudding. Also seemed a bit daunting given that it’s peak summer here and I associate English puddings with dry-fruit rich and dense desserts served on cold wintry Christmas evenings. But daring we are, so the pud had to be made…
Esther, the hostess, was wonderful! She presented the challenge with the original English ingredient found in puddings suet, but was large hearted enough to let us try what we liked as far as the technique included a steamed pudding! I got in touch with Aparna because she had tweeted a day ago that she had had a go at the challenge. Thanks to her, I was up the next day and singing the DB anthem early in the morning. I loved the idea of a 2 hour steam. No sauna luxury for me, but at least the pudding was gonna get treated with TLC! Even better because summer is here in full steam (tee hee, maybe I could have made the pudding in the sun), and so begin our never ending sob stories of lengthy power cuts. A pudding in the cooker on the stove which runs on gas was the best thing given the circumstances!
I read the threads on the forum and leafed through all my dessert cookbooks , and finally narrowed down to Indulge by Claire Clark, an utterly delicious book that I received to review from Blogger Aid. It‘s the most special sweet one on my bookshelf. Indulge had a very simple steamed treacle pudding with many options, of which I chose the summer berry one and played around with it. I added some Orange & Dried Fig Compote that I found leftover from this Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta I made ages ago, and some strawberries too. Then Claire met Aparna because I couldn’t figure out how long to steam it for, whether to put the cap on the pressure cooker etc. Claire Clark said it should be airtight, and Aparna said no weight on cooker. CC said 2 1/2 hours and Aparna did her individual ones for 30 minutes. So I took a bit of both… steamed for an hour with weight, and 1 hour without.
Unlike the traditional way of serving a steamed pudding hot, I served it at room temperature as Aparna suggested, with a cream anglaise that was chilled. I loved the texture and crumb of the pudding, especially when it stepped out of the steam bath. Gorgeous flavours … I think it’s a great great dessert, and one that I would love to make again. (I did actually, but didn’t have time to get good pictures etc. In any case, I found it difficult to take any pudding pictures. The second time around, I used the same basic recipe with chocolate chips in the batter, made it in mini moulds, and served the pud with a chocolate creme anglaise, and fresh cherries)
Thank you Esther for the fabulously different challenge; just the reason why I love being a Daring Baker. It opens my world to new cultures, cuisines, techniques, ideas, and challenges the mind to think. As always, thank you Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!!
Steamed Summer Berry and Fig Sponge Pudding
Adapted from Indulge by Claire Clark, pg 176
100gms unsalted butter, room temperature, plus extra for greasing
100gms vanilla sugar
150gm flour
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
2 eggs and 1 egg yolk (save the whites for macs!!)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup of orange and dried fig conserve
12 small strawberries, whole, hulled
50gms dark chocolate, grated
Method:
Grease a litre pudding basin well with softened butter.
In a large bowl, place the butter, sugar, flour, pinch salt, eggs and yolk and beat for 2-3 minutes till soft and creamy.
Turn the fig conserve in the centre of the pudding basin, line the circumference with whole strawberries facing down. Spoon the pudding batter evenly over this and level. Sprinkle over with grated chocolate.
Cover tightly with a piece of well greased aluminum foil, pleated in the middle, and tie securely around the rim with string.
Take a pressure cooker or large pan with a tight fitting lid (or steamer if you have one), fill it with 3 inches of water, place an old cloth at the bottom, topped with an old plate, and put the pudding basin on top of it.
Steam on simmer for 2 hours, and then takeoff heat. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes till easy enough to handle, and then remove from cooker.
Take off foil, place serving platter over it, and then, holding firmly with both hands, quickly turn it over to invert pudding on platter, and remove the basin.
Serve with Creme Anglaise or a large scoop of clotted cream!
Creme Anglaise
from Indulge by Claire Clark
1 vanilla pod
125ml low fat cream
125ml milk
3 egg yolks
2 oz Castor sugar
Method:
Slit the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds.
Place cream and milk in a sauce pan, stir in the vanilla seeds and simmer till it comes to a boil.
Place the yolks in a bowl, add sugar and whisk immediately. Gradually pour the boiled milk over this, stirring constantly. Return to the pan and stir continuously over medium heat with a wooden spoon till it begins to thicken. It should get thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Run your finger down the custard n the back of the spoon. the path should remain separated. DO NOT let the sauce come to a boil or it will curdle.
As soon as the sauce thickens, pour it though a sieve into a bowl, and cool the bowl over an ice bath/crushed ice.
Serve hot or cold.
Note: Place the leftover vanilla bean in a jar of granulated sugar to make the most amazing vanilla sugar that you can use in your desserts. It will take approximately 4-5 days to make. Shake the jar once a day.
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