Blessings From My Kitchen: With Love From Swaziland ~ Malva Pudding

This sweet dish comes all the way from Swaziland. My friend, Krista Prince sent me the link which she had posted on their family blog, Our Journey In Swaziland (in short: I asked her if I could share one of her delicious recipes and she kindly obliged- thank you Krista).

Krista, her husband Stephen, along with their three children are missionaries in Swaziland. Having left behind their home and the comforts of Midwestern life, they set out over a year ago to serve in the Swazi mission fields.

This family make themselves available as the hands and feet of Jesus with Children's Cup " to change the world for hurting and forgotten children by giving them hope in the love of Jesus Christ."

With their regular updates and newsletter we get glimpses of a family's awesome faith-filled journey; seeing THE hands and feet being used to spread life -giving light in the Southern African country. It is truly a blessing to have ever come into contact with such an amazing family.

Besides sharing slabs of life through generously detailed fill-ins, Krista spoils her readers by posting over-the-top, region based food posts. Malva pudding is one among her stellar recipes.

Let me tell you now, this is not your everyday smooth, one dimensional pudding. The soft, chewy cake- like base, draped in rich butter- laden sauce and amped with a cream custard is absolute posh dessert. Or it could be a very decadent breakfast, which would happen if you have enough willpower to leave a little bit of leftover. In any case, malva is luscious, but not overbearingly heavy.

The layered pudding brought back memories of the syrup soaked gateaux we consume in India, often catered by local" pudding chefs" and served at grand events. You don't need the 'chef' title prefixed to your name in order to prepare this easy, yet impressive sweet dish.

Before going to the ingredient list, I take you to Krista's introduction which reads:

"Since we've arrived in Swaziland, there are already foods and recipes that remind us of being here...things that we have never experienced up until now. One of those recipes is Malva pudding. It's a traditional south African dessert originally of Dutch origin, and it is indescribable..."

(Recipe unabashedly and heavily adapted from Krista Prince's Malva Pudding)
Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp apricot jam (or preserves, chopped very fine)
*5 oz all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vinegar
1 generous tbsp butter

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a stand mixer(or hand held beater) combine sugar and eggs and beat until thick and lemon colored.
Mix in the apricot jam and beat.
In another bowl, sift together the flour, b.soda and salt.
In a smaller bowl, combine the milk, vinegar and butter.
Alternate adding milk mixture and flour mixture into eggs and sugar. Beat well until combined thoroughly.
Pour into an 9x9 in. oven-proof dish and cover with foil (very important)
Bake for 45-50 minutes.
In the meantime, make the sauce below.

Sauce:

*3 1/2 oz butter
3/4 cup cream or milk (both work!)
3 oz sugar
1/3 cup hot water
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Over medium heat melt butter. Mix in cream, sugar, water and take off heat.
Stir in vanilla.
Spoon over warm, baked pudding.

Notes:

It's best to weigh the flour and sugar on a kitchen scale.

3 1/2 ounces butter is approximately 7 tablespoons.

Hot Malva pudding is usually accompanied with custard.

Custard:

1 c whole milk or heavy cream
1/2 c sugar
4 egg yolks, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Beat egg yolks in a bowl and beat until uniform pale yellow.
In a saucepan over medium -high heat, whisk milk/cream and sugar continuously until it starts to bubble but does not reach the boil point.
Temper the the egg yolks by slowly streaming a couple of ladles of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks, being careful not to scramble the eggs. ( I take my milk off the heat during this process) Pour egg mixture back into the saucepan and again over medium heat, whisk until custard starts to reach a thick consistency, where it will be able to coat the back of a spoon (160°-170° F on heat- safe thermometer- about 8 minutes).
Stir in vanilla.
Strain custard through a fine-mesh sieve, if needed.

"Serve warm or cool over the malva pudding. Be sure to scoop your guests off the floor after they've tried their first bites -- it is truly heavenly! "- Krista Prince

This was Krista's picture that screamed "you must make right now".

I cut the pudding into slices surrounded in a pool of thinned custard, for picture purposes. The photo right above best shows how it will look, on your plate - a yummy, melded mixture ready to be consumed.

Some facts on Swaziland (Source: Wiki) :

Swaziland is critically affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic, which is now an existential threat to its society.

The infection rate in the country is unprecedented and the highest in the world.

As a result, life expectancy has halved from nearly 60 years in the 1990s to just over 30 years today.

In two years, 200,000 Swazi children will have been orphaned by AIDS - more than one-fifth of the current population, according to UNICEF.

You can read more about the Princes', their journey and what they do( in addition to Krista's recipes) on their blog, Our Journey In Swaziland.

To find out about Children's Cup, click here.

"God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them."~ U2 frontman Bono ( at the National Prayer breakfast In D.C.)

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