Indian Pudding Day

(Google Image)

By Diane Forrest,

Recently some friends of mine had about a two week stay in a hospital waiting room when their son was in ICU.  Knowing that they hadn't been eating well, and their son who was now recovering in a regular room didn't have an appetite for hospital food, I decided to take them something for lunch.  I made a casserole, peas, cornbread, and for dessert, banana pudding.  When I think of pudding, I think of banana pudding, or those jello puddings in the cups.  Today I was looking at the assignment sheet and saw Indian pudding.  Since I had never seen that on the shelf next to the vanilla, chocolate or lemon, I had to do some research on the subject.  Indian pudding is made from corn, or either I should say corn meal.  It is mixed with milk, molasses spices and even some nuts or raisins.   It is then baked, and served warm topped with whipped cream or ice cream.

Indian pudding is a more elaborate form of the British Hasty Pudding.  You may know about Hasty Pudding from the song Yankee Doodle:

Father and I went down to camp,

Along with Captain Gooding;

And there we saw the men and boys,

As thick as hasty pudding.

Yankee doodle, keep it up,

Yankee doodle dandy;

Mind the music and the step,

And with the girls be handy.

For its status as the oldest collegiate theatrical organization in the United States.

Or you may recognize it from the awards handed out from Harvard's Hasty Pudding Society, a theatrical organization that is known for its status as the oldest collegiate theatrical organization in the United States.

To try your own Indian pudding here is a recipe from allrecipes.com.  You may decide you want to include it in your Thanksgiving feast.

Indian Pudding

Ingredients

• 4 cups scalded milk
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2/3 cup molasses
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups cold milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C) and lightly grease a 9x9 inch baking dish.
2. Place 4 cups hot, scalded milk in the top of a double boiler over boiling water. Pour in corn meal, a little at a time, and stir constantly until thick. Remove from heat and stir in molasses and salt, then pour mixture into baking dish and stir in 2 cups of cold milk.
3. Bake for 3 hours, or until set and a pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm.

For a spicy variation, add 1/2 teaspoon each of ground cinnamon and ginger. For an apple version, pare and slice two apples and layer with the pudding mixture prior to baking. Serve hot with whipped cream or ice cream.

(Google Image)