DJL Dishes Dessert: Baked Indian Pudding

Recipe:  Baked Indian Pudding

Creator:  Mary at One Perfect Bite
The Dish:  Wow, it's been an even longer time since I've done a dish on dessert, and since my library had their International Potluck this past Monday, I just went for broke.  I'd heard about this dish on an episode of The Best I Ever Had on Food Network, and it looked... FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC.  So while I'm not Native American in any way, I wanted to try my hand at this dish.  It looks like a combination of a custard and a polenta and has a taste similar to pumpkin pie... and something else I can't quite place.  It's best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top, so far be it for me to deprive my coworkers by not bringing along some Blue Bell.

Ingredients:
- 4 cups of milk
- 1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon each of ground ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup cream (<--I actually substituted milk for this.)

Directions:
1. Preheat over to 300 degrees. In a sauce pan, bring 3 cups of milk to a boil. Mix 1 cup of cold milk with the cornmeal and stir slowly into the hot milk. Cook on low for 20 minutes, stirring often.

2. Add butter, sugar, and molasses. Remove from heat. Add salt and spices. Beat eggs in a small bowl. Gradually add 1 cup of hot liquid to eggs, stirring constantly. Stir tempered eggs into cornmeal mixture.

3. Pour into a 1-1/2 quart baking dish and bake for 2 to 2-1/2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes during the first hour. After 1 hour, pour cream (or milk in my case) over top of pudding but do not stir. Continue cooking until top is set, 1 to 1-1/2 hours longer.

4. Serve warm topped with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Yields: 6-8 servings

It was delicious and my coworkers loved it, though some of them had it cold with the ice cream.  With the taste being similar to pumpkin pie, which is best served warm or cold, I think it's just a matter of preference.  Personally, I nuked mine and while runny, it was delicious.  I will have to make it again.