"Waiter! There's something in my... hot pud!" - the round-up

It's time for another round-up of WTSIM where the theme this month was "Hot Puds", meaning desserts served warm. Whenever I choose the theme for an event, I have certain things in mind and it always amazes me how the (to me) very obvious doesn't feature much or at all, but fellow food bloggers come up with an array of most interesting dishes I did not think of or hadn't even heard of before. This round is no exception, of course.
I, for one, was thinking very much along the lines of my Austrian heritage with strudels, tempura-style baked apple slices or dumplings (another glorious example being my friend Nicky's Schopala over at delicious:days), my adopted home country's self-saucing puddings, the French classics soufflé and crêpes suzette, even the fruit fritters found in Far-Eastern cuisine found their way onto my virtual list. Nothing prepared me for the variety of dishes I was going to receive!

First up let's head all the way to India, Goa more precisely, where Gajar Ka Halwa or Carrot Halwa is being served in My diverse kitchen. If you (like me) are new to Halwa, this dessert is made from different kinds of grains/ flours or vegetables and contains sugar/ jaggery, ghee, lots of dried fruit and nuts and sometimes milk. The consistency of halwa can vary from dry and crumbly, through sticky to fudgy and thick enough to be cut into bars. The must-haves are almond or cashew halwa, but the carrot version tops the pops!

Next stop on our journey round the globe is Ammam, Jordan, where we're being (beautifully, may I add) presented with what some may find to be unusual ingredients for a dessert: Simplicious makes Ba-Pao, sweet bread dumplings, which are produced from a sweet yeast dough alright, but are filled with beef, onion and garlic mixture... don't let that put you off, I have tried (surely mediocre versions compared to this) in Chinatown and they were scrumptious!

Over in colder climes, the Netherlands, Notitie van lien turns her attention to an English classic inspired by Gary Rhodes. Her microwave pudding with raisins receives a face-lift by using syrup from candied orange peel, giving it an even more English slant if that is at all possible - and you will find the fact that it is ready in a jiffy very appealing, indeed! 

Back in England, A Little Foodie makes use of seasonal produce and simply bakes some forced rhubarb to serve with home-made custard sauce (the recipe of which she keeps a secret). It may lose its colour, but retains all of its natural tang - who said simple couldn't be wonderful?

    Drilling straight through the globe and re-surfacing in Sydney, Australia, we're invited to sample aficionado's latest creation. I was thrilled to hear to have been the inspiration for this marvellous blog - and throroughly enjoyed the thought of a rather more summery temptation in the form of a banana pudding... yum, yum, yum!

In Vancover, Canada, Kits Chow gets busy on Shrove Tuesday to work miracles with pancakes. Rather than using everyone's childhood favourite, Nutella, she stacks them up high using red bean paste, or anko, as mortar between the layers... a nod to the East, I suppose, and surely one to give a try!

You can always count on Kitchen Delights to dig out dome half-forgotten British classics and this one is no exception. Going by the name of Sussex Pond Pudding, her individual puddings are hiding an entire lemon each and result in a fabulous pond of lemon juice cutting through the sweetness of the batter as you dig into them... a fabulous invention, methinks!

  Equally attracted to the idea of sweet-and-sour is Kuechenlatein in good ol' Germany. Her mini lemon curd sponge puddings were meant to fill the tummies of ravenous teenagers, but must have stolen the show at this Saturday family dinner - they certainly were gone in a flash!

A hot dessert that is suitable for hot and cold days is another Britsh classic which I believe to be called a "crisp" in Food and Family's adopted home of South Africa. Her plum and apple crumble with oats and plenty of cinnamon is a crowd-pleaser no matter what the weather... I'd sign up for it any day in the week!

Another very exotic contribution to this round is Lekker Lekker Lekkerste's creation of Malaysian bubur kacang. "Bubur what? you may ask? just as my ignorant self did - and you'll find out that it's a delicious type of porridge made with mung beans, coconut and durian fruit - it certainly doesn't get more exotic (for me), and also hardly more comforting!

 

  SpittoonExtra travels back to 19th century Suffolk, England and dishes up a rather intriguing Hunter's Pudding made simply with eggs, flour, suet and raisins. True to his devotion, he concocts a fabulous wine sauce hailing from the same area - this certainly is one recipe not to miss!

Cook Sister! has a story to tell about the myriad of hot puddings South Africans enjoy. Her contribution to WTSIM comes in the form of Jan Ellis pudding, apparently the very favourite of a rugby player by the same name... I have no doubt that this dessert is an irresistible combination of orangey, caramelly goodness - I just wish I was burning off the calories as fast as he would have and feel no guilt enjoying it!

As for my own contibution to the feast, I turned to a legendary Bohemian dessert of Buchteln with vanilla custard which is best enjoyed at an Austrian home or the infamous Cafe Hawelka in Vienna. Judging by the emails and comments I have received over this, it still enjoys and deserves all the credit I give it - and I found out in the process that it was one of the many ways to please my husband in the food department... never a bad thing to have a sure-fire bribe!

I hope you've enjoyed this round of WTSIM... thanks for all of you who participated, it's been a great joy to host this edition.
As promised, there's a prize of two cookbooks which will shortly be sent ot the lucky winner... drumroll: My Diverse Kitchen! Please send me your address so I can post them to you!

Comments

[Margaret]

Thank you for another great WTSIM...! roundup again Johanna.
I am still trying to visit all of the entries. They all look great.

[Jessica D]

These are all so different and so intriguing! I love that there is such a great variety of different desserts.

I really wanted to participate in this (I was going to do a québecoise tarte au sucre), but school has been so busy for me lately, my blogging time has been seriously diminished. I'll have to catch the next WTSIM!

[Kit]

So many different ideas and traditions, showed up here! A great round-up and loads to look forward to reading. Thanks, Johanna!

[Zita]

Wow..great round-up Johanna, thank you for your kind words :)

[lisa]

fantastic theme, Joanna and great round up!

[Aparna]

Hot puddings (in the non-Indian context) is not something I'm very familiar with. So this round-up is an eye-opener for me. I know I shall be trying out some of them.
Thanks.

I can't believe that my entry won the prize. Right now, I can't think of anything else to see except WoW! :)

[Lien]

Thanks for a wonderful round up Johanna! All the entries make my mouth water...

[Jeanne]

Now that's what I call a smorgabord of hot puddings! I am going to have to work my way through these - maybe each one can be a reward for x number of hours in the gym!!