Sunday Pudding with Mr Granger

Sunday night pudding.  This week it was individual cups of luscious, rich, mahogany, chocolate self-saucing pudding courtesy, once again, of self-taught, Sydney chef, Bill Granger.  A similar recipe is in Stephanie Alexander's bible which has exactly the same ingredients but the quantities differ and it is made in a pie dish.  We loved Bill's separate serves, although we halved the quantities into smaller tea cups.  Not only does the pudding look intriguing in cup-cake miniature, rising and cracking at it does above the rim, and somewhat Dali-esque, but Bill's method quarantines the pudding into manageable portions and discourages seconds.  I need all the discipline I can muster to resist carving off a another sliver, so this is the perfect antidote.

It is an odd ensemblage though. After having mixed a thoroughly smooth batter, you are required to top with a brown sugar and cocoa mixture, and pour a small amount of boiling water over the top before slipping it into the oven.  I have to confess I had to read it twice, and checked with reliable Stephanie, thinking at first that the the water was intended to be put in a pan surrounding the dish.  But no.  Boiling water over batter it was, and 20 minutes later it was transformed into a lava-like sauce bubbling underneath.

The pudding was, naturally, a hit.

The beaters and bowl were licked 'shiny as a whistle', to quote Wanna, aged five.

Ro-Ro, who put on a comical performance depicting some-one being poisoned when he had to eat a cherry tomato for lunch earlier in the day, managed to guzzle the lot before you could blink.

Charly, who is more moderate in her consumption of sweets, was stumped.

This is not everyday food and should come with a health warning, but nothing beats chocolate pud for adding some theatrics to an ordinary Sunday family meal.   

Recipe instructions: Bill's Food, Murdoch Books, 2002.

Afro-Carribean musical accompaniment: Si No Hubiera Negros, Artist: Eva Ayllon, Lif Diversions, 2008, playing on ABC Radio National Music Deli, 14 May 2010.