Indian Pumpkin Pudding

- Total Time
- About 2 hour 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1quart low-fat milk
- 6tablespoons stone-ground yellow cornmeal
- ⅓cup molasses
- ¼cup mild honey
- 2cups pumpkin purée, canned or made from 2 pounds fresh pumpkin (see below)
- 4eggs
- ¾teaspoon salt
- 1teaspoon ground ginger
- ½teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1tablespoon unsalted butter
- ½cup raisins (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 2-quart casserole, soufflé dish or Dutch oven.
- Step 2
Pour the milk into a 3- or 4-quart pot or saucepan, and place over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer, and slowly stream in the cornmeal while whisking the milk. Turn the heat to low and simmer 15 minutes, stirring, until the mixture has the consistency of runny cream of wheat. Stir in the molasses and honey, and continue to simmer, stirring, for five minutes. Remove from the heat, and whisk in the pumpkin until the mixture is smooth. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, and add the remaining ingredients. Pour into the buttered casserole, scraping in every bit with a rubber spatula.
- Step 3
Place in the oven, and bake 1 to 1½ hours until set; a knife should come out clean when inserted, and the top should be just beginning to brown. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.
- To make the pumpkin purée: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil. Place the pumpkin pieces on the baking sheet, drizzle 1 tablespoon of canola oil or olive oil on top, cover tightly with foil and place in the oven. Roast for 1½ hours or until thoroughly tender. Remove from the heat, transfer to a strainer or a colander set over a bowl or in the sink, and allow to cool and drain. Peel the pieces, and purée them in a food processor fitted with the steel blade.
- Advance preparation: You can serve this hot, at room temperature or even cold. It keeps for several days in the refrigerator.
Private Notes
Comments
Fresh pumpkin, especially if steamed, almost always has more water in it than canned. Fresh sounds nice, but it's unpredictable. I've gone back to using canned in every recipe calling for pumpkin. Another tip I learned recently -- one recipe for a very good pumpkin pie suggests toasting canned pumpkin in a dry skillet for a few minutes before using it, to intensify the flavor.
I used canned pumpkin and found that the suggested 1 quart of milk; baked 1.5 hours, was correct, and firmed up to the expected pudding consistency.
This is a good recipe. I am making my second batch right now :)
Tastes colonial, if that’s possible... kind of sparse and hearty and a little sad, but warmed with some imperial spice
I don’t think this is very good. I was hoping for a lower calorie pumpkin dessert and I should have just made pie.
I made it close to the directions using a can of pumpkin (15 oz not quite 2 cups) but less honey as I love molasses. Simmering the milk with the cornmeal took longer to reach the correct consistency. Due to poor time management, after baking for one hour I lowered the temp to 300, set the oven to cook for another 50 minutes then shut off while I was out. I returned 3 hours later, it was perfect in a warm oven. Served with whipped cream lightly sweetened with maple syrup and splash of bourbon.
I had frozen pumpkin puree which was rather wet even after draining. I added a bit more cornmeal and one extra egg and it turned out great. Not nearly as sweet as some Indian pudding I've had but that makes a dollop of ice cream welcome. Great breakfast dish.
