Vegan Coconut Rice Pudding.

Ed loves pudding so it is pretty difficult for him to decide which ones are his favourite, but rice pudding is definitely in his top 5. A lot of cow's milk doesn't really agree with Ed so he thought he would not be able to have rice pudding again. I tried to make him some with soya milk but it was a disaster, it just went brown and tasted funny. My mum had more patience with the soya version and had a lot more success. But I thought that coconut milk maybe a little easier to make rice pudding because it has more fat in it that soya milk, and this seems to make the rice fluffy and silky.

This rice pudding is absolutely beautiful, it's thick, smooth and the rich tasting coconut just transports it to heavenly pudding land. I used 1oz of sugar in this so it is sweet when the coconut is reduced down, as I don't have a sweet tooth I may reduce that amount next time. Ed is very happy with it though because he has a humongous sweet tooth. We usually have jam on rice pudding but I really don't think this needs it because it is like the little black dress, simple, chic and you don't need to accessorise with the right one.   

This recipe is in imperial because I stole it off my lovely mum, but it was my idea to use coconut milk so I'm not ripping it off completely. 

2oz Pudding Rice

1oz Sugar

1 Knob of butter (or vegan alternative)

1 pint of coconut milk (if you use a can just rinse the can out with water to make it up to a pint. You can also use soya milk or cow's milk depending on your dietary preference.

A generous flurry of Nutmeg

Just put it all in a saucepan and simmer gently for 20-25mins. Stir now and again to make sure the rice isn't sticking to the bottom of the pan, you will know when it is ready because the rice with be soft and it will have a beautiful pudding sheen. Now if you use coconut milk or cow's milk you can eat the pudding straight away because the consistency will be thick and moorish. If you have used soya milk it is best to leave it to cool then heat it up a while later, this will give you that nice consistency. I grate nutmeg in whilst I'm cooking and at the end because it reminds me of home, just taste as you go along and add as much as makes you happy.

This bowl of pudding with definitely cheer up a rainy, grey Saturday evening. Hope you are having a great one.

xkx 

Ladies Don't Eat Pudding!

Today I have been listening to 'The Real Me Is Thin' by Arabella Weir. It is a book about her growing up in a fat body and forever wanting to be thin. She writes that one day she asked her girl mates, of all body shapes and sizes, if they ever ate pudding in front of a man on a date or a business lunch. They all categorically said they would never eat pudding in front of man in their professional or personal dating lives. When she asked her male friends the same question they answered with 'Why the hell wouldn't I?'.

I could totally relate to this and to be honest it made me feel a bit sad. Before I met Ed I don't think I ever really felt comfortable eating in front of men (and some women) outside my family unit. Especially when I hit my teens, the idea must have seeped into my thought process malignantly. I really love food and I love eating, but somewhere along the line I learnt that this was not the ladylike thing to do. I'm not quite sure where I picked this up from, all I know is that it was not from my family. With them food was an extension of love and security and it still is today. I guess I must have just picked it up from friends at school, magazines, tv, what boys thought of me. The sadder thing is that I don't think I was even aware that I felt like this before I met Ed and grew more comfortable with him. I realised that he didn't judge me if i ate a massive plate full of food and then had pudding. He loved me whatever I ate and with this non judgemental attitude I found my ideas of what was 'ladylike' when it came to food shifting as well. 

Some studies have found that woman are portrayed as more attractive and feminine when we are seen to be eating less calories. What I am not sure of is, if that's from a male or female perspective. I think women are sold the idea that our lives will be significantly better if 'We can just shift those few pounds' or 'If we can achieve THAT bikini body in 6weeks' but realistically does it change our lives? I find gossip magazines extremely depressing when they are branding red circles around celebrities highlighting their cellulite, sweat patches or any part that is completely human. It is like they are saying "look these celebrities are hideously flawed just like you", but don't worry because on the next page there's a diet that you can do so you can look like them. I'm confused already to what I am suppose to look like. So then I turn to mainstream magazines that are supposed to be about empowering women and what are the majority of articles in them about: dieting, how to please your man and how to squeeze your uncelebrity-like body into celebrity sized clothes. I'm so exhausted by this point that I'm too tired to gnaw my way through a salad and I'm so depressed all I can think of is chocolate.  

So to wrap up these stray thoughts: I don't read gossip magazines anymore and if I see a women's mag with anything about dieting or keeping my man happy I walk away! I eat pudding in front of men! I drink pints of calorie filled beer in front of men! And when I feel a twinge of 'Oh god I shouldn't have eaten all of that' I give myself a mental slap and think of Germaine Greer. I think that if us ladies can start to learn how to love ourselves as we are right now and stop all that food induced worry we could go a long way in totally changing the world. The way I see it the pressures on girls growing up today are even more violent than when I was young and unless we make a stand now how can they ever learn to love themselves?

So I'll leave you with two quotes:

"Women are being jumped into believing that being thin is their natural destiny" - Betty Friedan.

"A girl must be two things, who and what she wants" - Coco Chanel.     

So go forth and eat some of that delightful pudding, especially if there are men around. Because even if they don't notice (which I'm pretty sure they won't) you will feel like you have just burnt your bra.

xkx

Gluten Free Rhubarb Bread & Butter Pud.

I had some Yorkshire forced Rhubarb kicking about in the fridge and it needed to be used up before it went over so i decided that it was pudding time. I chopped up the rhubarb and stewed it with a little sloe gin. Next I added some fresh grated ginger and raisons, then just let it simmer quietly and cook down so the rhubarb turned into a thick syrupy mess. I tasted it and added 1 tablespoon of Demerara sugar just to sweeten it up a touch. 

After I had made my rhubarb compote I had a forage around the kitchen cupboards to try and figure out what to make. I decided to make a quick custard, this was actually pretty easy, I have tried to make custard in the past and have stuck to recipes religiously but all I have ended up with is weird, eggy lump broth. So this time I took a deep breath, cracked an egg and whisked it with a couple of tablespoons of caster sugar. I whipped it until it was really frothy, whilst I was doing this I had a cups worth of milk in a small saucepan on the hob warming. When my egg and sugar mixture was frothy and the milk was just below the boil I poured the milk onto the egg gradually and whisked like crazy so it didn't curdle. I transferred it back to the small saucepan and heated it gently and kept whisking. It did threaten me with turning lumpy but I whisked like my life depended on it, no curdles for me today! After that I added a large flourish of nutmeg. 

I spooned the compote into two ramekins then tore a small slice of brown gluten free bread into each one to cover the rhubarb. When that was done I poured over the triumphantly un-lumpy custard, pushed any rogue bread so it was submerged then left it to rest for about an hour. When it was pudding time I cooked them in the oven on 180 degrees fan for about 20 minutes. 

This was super yummy, I haven't had bread and butter pudding since well before I found out I was gluten intolerant, so it felt like a real treat. I think I might try a marmalade flavour one next. I also realise I shouldn't really call it bread AND butter pudding because I didn't add butter but I can be a dessert maverick sometimes.

Hope you are having a great Saturday <3

xkx   

Easter Decadence.

I have had such a lovely Easter, it is days like this when I feel super lucky. I have been surrounded by family and good food, there is nothing better than that in my opinion. This is my mum's fabulous version of Mary Berry's Easter Lemon Pavlova, mum even candied the lemon peel! I love lemony puddings and any kind of meringue, so this really was my perfect pud.     

Not many Easter eggs got eaten today, mainly because of the luscious lemon pavlova. Ed and I bought mum and dad a box of lots of tiny eggs filled with extravagant goo, I bought Ed a white chocolate and raspberry egg and Ed got me a massive walnut whip with baby walnut whips inside. It has been such a relaxing, chilled day. We are now just enjoying a nice cosy evening watching the TV. Hope you have had a great day.xkx