Ginger fig pudding… and other ginger puds

We don’t have puddings… only two of us really like them and these days people don’t seem to have the same appetite as they used to – I guess we don’t need all those calories to keep warm in our centrally heated houses, or to walk/cycle anywhere when we usually have other transport.

I don’t remember having ginger pudding at home as a child, jam, chocolate and best of all treacle, but not ginger – that was a treat from school! In Modern Practical Cookery I came across this recipe for ginger and fig pudding… how delicious does that sound?! It does sound delicious but as I mentioned, I’m don’t really like puddings any more…

Ginger and fig pudding

• ½ lb flour plus ½ level tsp carbonate of soda (or just use self-raising flour)
• ¼ lb chopped suet
• 1 tsp
• ground ginger (I’d use about three times that!)
• ½ lb cooking figs, soaked in ½ pint water, stalks removed and chopped – slice a couple to decorate the top of the pudding
• ¼ lb golden syrup
• 1 well-beaten egg
• melted butter
• ¼ lb Barbados sugar

1. butter a pudding basin and arrange slices of fig dipped in melted butter
2. when the buttered figs have set, pour in the golden syrup
3. mix the flour, carbonate of soda if using, suet, ginger and sugar
4. mix well and add the figs, figgy water and egg
5. pour into pudding basin, cover with well buttered grease proof paper and steam for about three hours

I guess it would be very nice served with custard!

The next recipe in the book is for preserved ginger pudding – the ginger is preserved, not the pudding!!

Preserved ginger pudding

• 5 oz sugar
• 6 oz butter
• ½ lb flour and 1 tsp baking powder (or use self-raising flour)
• 2 eggs
• milk
• 3 oz glacé or preserved ginger, cut in pieces

1. beat the  sugar and butter to a light cream
2. add eggs one at a time beating very well
3. stir in the rest of the ingredients adding as much milk as required
4. either bake in a moderate oven for 1½ hours or steam for 2
5. if using preserved ginger in syrup, the syrup can be heated slightly and served with the pudding.

No mention is made of a sauce, but plain custard would be jolly fine.

The other ginger puds are:

• ginger and lemon pudding
• ginger orange pudding
• apple ginger pudding
• rhubarb ginger pudding
• ginger sponge
• baked ginger pudding
• and plain old just ginger pudding!

If you don’t want custard and fancy more ginger, there’s a ginger sauce which is a white sauce with chopped preserved ginger plus some of the preserving syrup!