Rice Pudding with Coconut Milk & Raspberry Jam

"Life is a jest; and all things show it
I thought so once; but now I know it".  John Gay, My Own Epitaph.

So after my foray into chicken satay, I'm left with an opened tin of coconut milk.  I decant it into an old jam jar and it looks disconcertingly like dirty white spirit in the fridge.  If I leave it there a few days, my husband will throw it away.  While my kids are still finishing off their chicken satay, I start making rice pudding.  While I'm pouring out the milk, I suddenly realise that the coconut milk and rice pudding could be a marriage from heaven. 

Now making home made rice pudding, when it's left festering at the bottom of the oven for a couple of hours, is lovely.  But most of my deserts are done on the spur of the moment in response to hungry appetites so this isn't an option.  Thankfully a few years ago my Mum introduced me to flaked pudding rice.  It has cooking instructions on the packet; either in the oven for 1.5-2 hours or on the hob for 6-8 mins!  Yes, 6-8 minutes!!  Ok, so you don't get to enjoy the skin, but that often seems to divide people anyway.  OK, so there is quite a bit of stirring - but I added the coconut milk towards the end to loosen the pudding that was thickening a little too much and again at the end to help cool in down quickly for impatience children.  They loved it and ate it with a blob of raspberry jam.  Incidentally, everything "tastes like jam" at the moment, according to my 2 year old or tastes "like tractor".  For some unknown reason we haven't had jam in the house for a couple of months.  The children don't usually eat jam, but due to the sudden novelty, they can't get enough of it and it's getting lots of requests.

Lemony Curdy Pudding

“The proof of the pudding is in the eating” W. Camden, (Remaines Concerning Britaine, 1614)

As a Sunday treat, I made a lemony curd pudding.  My Mum used to a make a version of this, far superior to my own. It was one of those dishes that didn’t come out to my satisfaction, but paradoxically, was very popular with the family.  So popular, that a silence fell across the room while they ate it.  When I commented on this, G4 (girl, 4 years) responded “that’s because we love it so much Mummy”.    My husband even liked it and he doesn’t have a natural affinity with desserts.    For that reason, I make no apologies but note the reasons for my dissatisfaction: it was made without due care and attention either side of my husband’s monkfish dish and between bathing the kids.  I didn’t have time to monitor it in the oven and left if for 45 minutes on a low heat as my oven has a tendency to cook very quickly. 

However, it was great fun to make as it involves whisking egg whites into white peak; one of my favourite kitchen tasks.  The kids love watching them turn like it’s some magic trick.  They also helped beating egg yolks (2), with 2oz of SR Flour, caster sugar, and butter adding lemon peel zest and lemon juice.  The whisked egg whites are then folded into the cakey mixture.  After piling into a buttered oven proof dish, it is put into a roasting tray filled half with water.  The result is that the bottom half of the dish stays a curdy, custard consistency, while the top half rises a little and bakes like a cake.  As I was doing it quickly with the kids I didn’t put much lemon peel or lemon juice in.  Husband thought this fragrant and subtle.  I was also disappointed as the curd lower half looked a little like scrambled egg, which I don’t think it’s supposed to.  This didn’t put anyone off.  B2 (boy, 2 years) started crying briefly with frustration when I told him he had to wait for his portion to cool down before he could eat it.

This was done from memory from a Jamie Oliver recipe.  I'll reference it later ....

.....  Lovely Lemon Curdy Pud from Jamie Oliver's Happy Days with the Naked Chef, 2001.