Indian Pudding Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is Indian pudding made of? ›

Indian pudding is a baked custard with milk, butter, molasses, eggs, spices, and cornmeal. The name is likely derived from the cornmeal, which was known as indian meal way back when.

It typically contains milk or cream, although there are non-dairy puddings made with plant-based "milk." Pudding is similar to custard in that they both can contain eggs and milk, but pudding is usually thickened with a starch, whereas custard is thickened by the eggs.

In the United States, puddings are nearly always sweet desserts of milk or fruit juice variously flavoured and thickened with cornstarch, arrowroot, flour, tapioca, rice, bread, or eggs. The rarer savoury puddings are thickened vegetable purées, soufflé-like dishes, or, like corn pudding, custards.

Indian pudding is a classic New England dessert, which, according to culinary lore, dates back to the Pilgrims. It may have its roots in British “hasty pudding,” made from boiling wheat flour in water and milk until it thickened into a porridge.

Indian Pudding is a centuries old cornmeal molasses pudding first made by American colonists who were probably re-creating the hasty pudding they left behind in England. Hasty pudding is made with oats, but since oats weren't available in America, cornmeal was substituted.

Soft, creamy puddings are an easy dessert to like, combining sweet, rich flavors with a cool and silky-soft texture. Most recipes use a starch thickener -- typically flour or cornstarch in the United States -- to bring the pudding to a suitable consistency.

Pudding is usually runny because it has been stored in the refrigerator for too long or in an open space. Another cause could be due to improper cooking methods. Well, for Elmer Lovers who are worried that the pudding will be runny, you should refer to the information on the tips below.

Remove from heat; immediately pour through sieve into bowl. Stir butter and vanilla into hot pudding. Place plastic wrap directly on surface of pudding (to prevent skin from forming); chill at least 3 hours and up to 3 days.

Keep stirring until the pudding is thick enough to coat the spatula and leave a clean line when you pull your finger through it.

In Britain American "pudding" would be called "flavoured custard". "Custard" in Britain would be Bird's custard powder which is vanilla flavoured corn starch.

What are the three types of pudding? ›

Baked, steamed, and boiled puddings

These puddings are baked, steamed, or boiled. Depending on its ingredients, such a pudding may be served as a part of the main course or as a dessert.

Pudding can be sweet or savory, a course or a dish

Further complicating the linguistic difference between American and British "pudding" is the fact that in the U.K., pudding may refer not to a dish or recipe at all, but to a course.

Kheer is a popular dessert from the Indian sub-continent, made primarily with rice, milk and sugar. The word “Kheer” is derived from the Sanskrit word “Skheer” meaning milk.

American pudding from scratch is almost always a custard-based sweet dessert. Vanilla, banana, and chocolate puddings are most common but thanks to pudding mixes, many flavors are available.

Cornmeal pudding, also known as Indian Pudding and Cornmeal Pone - and similar to the English's hasty pudding - has existed in some form for hundreds of years. It was originally found in places where corn and molasses were easily accessible, such as colonial New England and Jamaica.