20’ preparation, 45’ baking, 10’ washing and cleaning around you.

Ingredients

• 1l low-fat milk (never use skim milk in French Pâtisserie (F.P) ), unless your health imposes it)
• 165g fine semolina
• 100g caster sugar + 20g for caramel
• 4 eggs
• 40g sultanas
• a capful of Bundi Rum or French Indies Rhum
• 1 tsp of salt
• vanilla extract, or paste, or pod (optional)

Preparation

A few hours before, soak sultanas in rum.

In a large and deep pan, boil milk (optionally with a vanilla flavour).
When boiling, throw in semolina and sugar, until it comes to the boil again (e.g.  Therm.  8).
Reduce heat (e.g.  5) to ensure slow cooking without creating lumps.
Continue for about 15’, stirring often.

In the meantime, choose a deep, thick, ideally ceramic, square or rectangular dish.
Turn your oven onto grill mode at 225C, and place the 20 grams of sugar at the bottom of the dish, along with a couple of tablespoons of water.  Tilt the dish to the right and to the left a few times to help the water dissolve the sugar.  Place the dish in the oven.  It will soon for a brown caramel.

Take the semolina preparation off the heat.

Separate the egg whites and yolks.  Place whites in a metal bowl with a pinch of salt.  Beat them until firm with an egg beater.
Still using the beater, blend in the yolks into the preparation.
As for the whites, add them in next with the wooden spatula, gently, certainly not using the blender, so that the foamy consistency is kept.

By now the caramel should be brown or near-brown? Careful not to burn it! Remember that if you used a heavy dish, the caramel will keep cooking even when the dish it taken out of the oven.

Add the sultanas (and any excess of rum) into the preparation, and stir gently to distribute them evenly.

Pour the semolina preparation into the dish, over the boiling caramel. Place the dish back in the oven.
After 15’, when the top of the cake is dry, protect it from burning with aluminium foil.
Continue cooking at a reduce 180 C.
Allow enough cooling time before serving.

Consumption suggestion

*Like for most cakes, it’s done when a knife blade comes out clean from the middle (or dew covered only).

This pudding is better eaten warm, and the micro-wave oven, exceptionally, works well here with the far.
I’ve found out that a sprinkle of salt over a slice before reheating adds this little je ne sais quoi that will take you back to it.