Strawberry Pudding

When I was a child and my dad came back from travelling he would always bring us a lot of treats, mainly because we lived in a country that had really limited imports and in the south it was even worse with the world sanctions. Dad used to bring a really wide range of things, from shoes and clothing to disney movies, frozen treats, chips and even cured meats and cheese in salt water from Turkey before he crossed the border and embarked on the 10 hour driving journey to get to us in the city we lived in.

My mum had a stash of boxed whipped topping that she would make for us from time to time that he also brought from Turkey, including instant chocolate mousse and puddings, it was really impossible to find heavy cream for whipped cream there and we craved a lot of that, including good ice cream but this forced us to get creative and try out new things which is a whole other story.. haha.

I remember the strawberry boxed pudding, maybe now if I tasted it it would seem artificial and unpalatable but back then it was delicious and something I remember distinctly especially at the time when I had one of my teeth removed at the dentist and all I ate was the chilled yummy pink pudding while recovering.

With the whole lot of leftover strawberries from last week and milk that is just about to expire I figured I'd attempt a more gourmet version of that childhood favourite and see where it takes me so here it goes....

Strawberry Pudding!

2 cups strawberry fruit (stems removed and washed)

Sugar

Puree these in the blender really well then run the mixture through a sieve to strain out the seeds. You're left with a dark pink puree, very smooth and smells of fresh strawberry.

Add some sugar to this and reduce this in a pot so it's a concentrated syrup.

2 3/4 milk

1/4 cup corn starch

1/3 cup sugar

vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

2 tbsp butter

On medium heat: Mix all the above ingredients in a heavy bottomed pot including the strawberry syrup puree and begin whisking until the mixture thickens into a pudding like consistency (it may take a bit but keep whisking and it'll come together!)

Once the desired consistancy has been achieved remove the pot from the stove and blend in the 2 tablespoons of butter until it is all melted. Now pour into your bowls, jar, moulds or cups and cover with cling wrap over the surfaces of the pudding to avoid a film.

You could add an egg too and follow this recipe by Smitten Kitchen