Winter warmer: Bread Pudding, my mother's 'Jamaican' way
My mother makes the best bread pudding, her ‘Jamaican way’, I’d say, as I have no idea what the standard Jamaican method is. Mummy’s Jamaican bread pudding is moist and just firm, yet silky, with the perfect amount of plump, juicy raisins. Not bland and ‘bready’, soggy, or super-sickly-sweet like some office canteen versions I’ve endured in my time - times when many employers in the UK (especially the public sector ones) used to provide canteen services to their staff. Boarding school children may also have a clue.
I was about to throw away a partly eaten loaf of white bread that I should never have bought in the first place, as I am supposed to be on a maintenance diet . It was still early enough in the new year, and I had resolutions to keep, including CUTTING DOWN ON FOOD WASTE - EVEN MORE. This has been a mission of mine for some years now. I have made some good progress, but there is more to be done.
Something came over me, and before I knew it, I was making a ’THROW IN WHAT YOU’VE GOT’ bread pudding, my first attempt since I was about 14 years old!
It actually came out very well. I savoured a few hot slices, straight out of the oven, with warm custard. DELICIOSA!
I actually ended up feeling quite good afterwards because:
I made a pudding!
By putting the stale bread to use, I halted food waste (on this occasion)! I also sliced the bulk of it into large chunks and put it in the freezer, to be eaten later.
It was nice to have a treat. I didn’t overdo the calories, though I was reminded to restart my exercise routine, which I had planned to do post-Christmas, anyway.
Ingredients*
3 medium eggs
800g loaf of stale-ish bread
Sugar to taste (about 1 cup? Not sure …)
250g raisins
Milk (I used powdered skimmed)
100g butter
80g coconut oil
Juice of half a green lime
Gravy browning
Ground mixed spice
Optional flavourings such as vanilla
Make!
Tear the bread coarsely, place in large bowl, and just cover with milk.
Leave to soak in fridge or at normal room temperature for about 1 hour.
Mix a couple of times during the soak.
Add a little more milk to cover again if bits of bread seem dry.
Fold in sugar to taste. For me, this was about 1 cup of sugar (er, I think).
Add 1 tablespoon of gravy browning to colour and add savoury balance. Use more or less, depending on how dark you want the pudding to be (and whether you started out with brown or white bread).
Add other flavourings: Juice from half a green lime; 1 heaped teaspoon of ground mixed spice; 2 teaspoons of vanilla. I added almond essence but found it unnecessary. You may like it though ..
Fold in well.
Beat the eggs.
Warm the butter and coconut oil in a pan over low heat for a minute or so. Allow to cool, but not solidify completely, then add to the beaten egg and stir.
Fold the egg, coconut and butter mix into the soaked bread and make sure it is well distributed. The odd flakes of solidified butter aren’t a problem.
Fold in the raisins.
That’s your pudding mix DONE!
Line a 19-inch baking tin with greaseproof paper and rub a little butter here and there around the edges and base.
Pour in the pudding mix.
Pop the filled baking tin into the middle of a preheated (180C, fan assisted) for 1.5 hours.
And, enjoy!
I like mine on it’s own, or with custard, cream or ice-cream. Nice!
*All of the items in the picture of ingredients were used in the recipe e.g. no cantaloupe melon, no Yorkshire Gold tea (my favourite!). Some items (e.g. green lime) are missing.
As it happens, none of the ingredients were sourced from plants grown by me.
CAVEAT EMPTOR! Measurements are ‘loose’, I often just tossed in what I felt was enough based on memories of 42 years ago when I made it with my mother, or what ‘looked right’. I know that might not be super-helpful (sorry!) to those of you who want to follow the recipe though… But why not give it a go and have some fun with it?!
xxx
