Malva pudding

The recipe that I use for Malva pudding is a bit of a concoction. I wanted to make this for the man in my life, and didn't have a recipe. I called my mom who was working in Botswana at that time and she gave me a recipe out of her head as she didn't have any recipe books with her.

I have tried other people's Malva puddings over the years and they don't have a touch on this one!

Here is the recipe.

Mom's Malva pudding

Ingredients

Pudding

1 T butter / margarine

1 cup sugar

1 egg

3 T apricot jam

1 cup flour

Pinch salt

1 cup milk

1 t vinegar

1 heaped t bicarb of soda

1. Beat together to cream butter/ margarine, sugar and the egg.

2. Add apricot jam.

3. Add the flour with a pinch of salt.

4. In a separate dish, mix the milk, vinegar and bicarb. 

5. Slowly add the milk mixture to the batter mixing in little by little.

6. Pour into a greased baking dish and place in a pre-heated oven to 180 deg Celsius for +- 40 minutes. 

Sauce 

1 cup cream / 1 cup milk OR 2 cups milk

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter / margarine

Put all ingredients in a mixing bowl if going to use the microwave (low heat for 10 minutes) or in a saucepan and melt together until the sugar has dissolved. 

Once the pudding has cooked, pour the sauce over and prickly the pudding with a fork (especially around the edges) until all the sauce has gone into the pudding. 

Enjoy warm with whipped cream.

Fathers Day winter food

I don't particularly like eating oxtail stew and baked puddings are not on top of my dessert list, but tomorrow is Fathers Day and the dad in our house loves both of these.

We are having lunch with the family tomorrow to celebrate. It's pretty chilly outside and the perfect weather for a stew and malva pudding, both South Africa specialities. I made the Oxtail stew this evening....

Oxtail stew

This recipe I used is adapted slightly from the popular You magazine recipes and the original one can be found at http://you.co.za/food/oxtail-stew/

1/3 cup flour

1T paprika

1.5kg oxtail cut into pieces

Oil for frying

4 medium carrots peeled and sliced

2 onions peeled and cut into quarters

2 cloves garlic chopped

3cups beef stock

1.5 cans chopped peeled tomatoes 

250g green beans chopped into 3/4 cm pieces

Salt and pepper

Fresh parsley

1. Mix flour and paprika and cover the oxtail pieces in the flour mix.

2. Heat oil and brown the meat in a big pot.

3. Remove meat from the pot and set aside.

4. Fry the carrots, garlic and onion in the pot until the onion is cooked.

5. Add the meat back into the pot. Then put in the stock and tomatoes. 

6. Simmer for about an hour or until meat is tender.

7. Add the green beans and leave to simmer again until done.

8. Before serving, season to taste and add the parsley before serving.

I made everything to step 7 tonight and will warm again and finish the dish before serving tomorrow.

Last time I made oxtail with this recipe, I actually enjoyed it myself. I think a lot of oxtail stew recipes call for red wine in the recipe. This recipe uses beef stock instead and it is not as "watery" as a result. The stock thickens and makes a lovely gravy.

Here is what the end product looks like this evening...