Vinegar pudding (asynpoeding)

Vinegar pudding is a much-loved South African pudding. Its roots can be found in wine pudding, which was made by baking raisin-and-date batter in a syrup made from wine, but somewhere along the way vinegar became the ingredient of choice, and most recipes nowadays omit the fruit too.

Serves 4 – feel free to double the recipe.

Ingredients

Syrup

  • 1 ¼ cup (310 ml) boiling water
  • 2/3 cup (160 ml) sugar
  • 1/3 cup (80ml) vinegar: use white, brown, or wine vinegar, but not balsamic vinegar

Batter

  • ¼ cup (60 gram) butter
  • 1/3 cup (80 ml) sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) ground ginger or mixed spice
  • ¼ teaspoon (1 ml) nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon (15 ml) apricot jam
  • 3/4 teaspoon (4 ml) baking soda
  • 2/3 cup (160 ml) milk warmed
  • 1 cup (250 ml) flour
  • 1/3 cup (80 ml) chopped dates or raisins (optional)

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C

Sauce

  1. Dissolve the sugar in boiling water.
  2. Add vinegar and boil for about three minutes, with the lid on.
  3. Taste the sauce – trust your taste buds, and if they are not worried yet, feel free to add more vinegar to the sauce.
  4. Pour sauce into a large oven-proof dish, with a lid. If you do not have a lid, you can cover it with aluminum foil.
  5. Allow the syrup to cool down a little bit, while you make the dough

Dough

  1. Cream butter and sugar together.
  2. Add the egg, apricot jam, spices, and salt, and beat well.
  3. Sift flour over the mixture
  4. Add optional chopped dates or raisins.
  5. Dissolve baking soda into warmed milk.
  6. Mix everything together.
  7. Spoon the batter into the syrup, but don’t smooth it out.
  8. Place the lid on the dish, and bake for about 40 minutes at 180°C, until golden brown.

Notes

Use a large oven dish, to prevent syrup spilling over the sides while the pudding bakes in its syrup. If does start spilling, place the dish on a baking sheet.