Culinary Advisor
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Semolina Pudding with Jam
Created by Chef Thomas
A bowl of semolina cooked slowly in good milk, thick and creamy and softly vanilla-scented, with a blob of raspberry jam stirred through at the last minute so the pudding blushes pink in streaks.
It's raining. The kind of slow, settled rain that fogs the kitchen windows by half past five and turns the whole evening inward. This is semolina pudding weather. Nothing else quite answers it.
Semolina gets a bad press. Most people of a certain age remember it from school dinners: grey, gluey, served with a reluctant plop and a sad teaspoon of something red. That is not this. Made properly, with whole milk and a little patience, semolina turns into something altogether different. Thick, creamy, softly sweet, with a clean vanilla warmth running through it. The jam stirred through at the end does half the work. Raspberry for preference, because the sharpness cuts through all that richness, but whatever you have in the cupboard will earn its keep.
It takes fifteen minutes. You need a heavy pan, a whisk for the first minute, and then a wooden spoon and the willingness to stand still at the hob. That's it. Trust your nose. When the kitchen starts to smell like warm milk and vanilla, you're nearly there.
I wrote it down in the notebook last winter: 'semolina, raspberry jam, Tuesday, the rain.' That was the whole entry. We're only making dinner, or pudding in this case, but there are few better feelings than putting a warm bowl of something quiet in front of someone on a cold evening and watching their shoulders drop half an inch. Nursery food. And none the worse for that.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary AdvisorIngredients
whole milk
Quantity
600ml
vanilla pod
Quantity
1
split lengthways, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
fine sea salt
Quantity
pinch
fine semolina
Quantity
75g
caster sugar
Quantity
40g
or to taste
unsalted butter
Quantity
small knob
raspberry jam
Quantity
4 generous tablespoons
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole milk | 600ml |
| vanilla podsplit lengthways, or 1 tsp vanilla extract | 1 |
| fine sea salt | pinch |
| fine semolina | 75g |
| caster sugaror to taste | 40g |
| unsalted butter | small knob |
| raspberry jamto serve | 4 generous tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy-bottomed saucepan
- •Balloon whisk
- •Wooden spoon
Instructions
- 1
Warm the milk
Pour the milk into a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Scrape the vanilla seeds into the milk with the tip of a knife and drop the empty pod in after them. Add the pinch of salt. Bring the milk slowly to the edge of a simmer over a medium heat, stirring now and then. You want small bubbles breaking at the sides of the pan, not a rolling boil. Take it off the heat and fish out the pod.
Whole milk, not semi-skimmed. This is a pudding made almost entirely of milk, and its character is the milk's character. - 2
Rain in the semolina
Return the pan to a low heat. Now the part that matters: pour the semolina in slowly, almost raining it through your fingers, while whisking steadily with the other hand. Do this properly and you'll have a smooth, silken pudding. Rush it, and you'll be fighting lumps for the next ten minutes. Keep whisking for a minute or two after it's all in.
- 3
Cook slowly
Swap the whisk for a wooden spoon and keep stirring over a low heat. It will thicken faster than you expect, and then keep thickening. Eight to ten minutes is about right. You're looking for the texture of soft custard: thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, loose enough to drop slowly when you tip it. Taste a small spoonful. The semolina should be tender, not grainy. If it still has bite, give it another minute.
Keep the heat low and your patience steady. Semolina that cooks too fast catches on the bottom of the pan, and burnt milk is a smell you don't want in the kitchen. - 4
Finish with butter and sugar
Off the heat, stir in the sugar and the knob of butter. The butter melts into the pudding and gives it a quiet gloss. Taste it. More sugar? Another pinch of salt? A splash more milk if it's tightened up too much? Your kitchen, your rules. The pudding should taste of warm vanilla milk and nothing more complicated than that.
- 5
Serve with jam
Spoon the pudding into warm bowls. Drop a generous spoonful of raspberry jam into the middle of each one, then give it a single lazy stir with the back of the spoon so the jam streaks through in soft pink ribbons rather than disappearing entirely. Eat straight away, while the pudding is still warm and the jam is still cold from the jar. That small contrast is the whole pleasure of it.
Chef Tips
- •Whole milk, always. Semi-skimmed makes a thinner, sadder version of this pudding and there's nowhere for it to hide. If you want it richer still, replace 100ml of the milk with single cream. It turns the whole thing into something close to a dessert you'd be proud to serve on a Sunday.
- •Whatever jam you have is the right jam. Raspberry is my default because the sharpness cuts through the richness beautifully, but a good plum jam or a dark cherry conserve will do handsome work. I'd avoid anything too sweet. The pudding is already sweet enough on its own.
- •If a skin forms on the surface as it sits in the bowl, that isn't a flaw. It's the best bit. Some people spend their whole lives fighting their siblings for it. Take the side of the skin lovers. They're right.
Advance Preparation
- •Semolina pudding is best made and eaten straight away. It thickens considerably as it cools and loses the silken texture that makes it worth the trouble in the first place.
- •If you do have leftovers, reheat them gently in a small pan with a splash more milk, stirring until the pudding loosens and becomes creamy again. It won't be quite what it was, but it will still be good.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 205g)
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