Chin Chin's Sticky Date Pudding With Red Date Caramel Sauce

October 12, 2017

This beautiful recipe using the red date aka jujube fruit is so irresistible, we had to share it on the blog. This is an edited extract from Chin Chin's Feed Me cook book and was published by Guardian. Source: https://tinyurl.com/ydfm7nvx

No meal is complete without dessert. In the last in our recipe series from Chin Chin chef Benjamin Cooper, he offers up an easy but delicious pudding that can be preprepared or served fresh.

Sticky date pud with red date caramel sauce

Chinese herbalists say red dates, or jujubes, are full of healthy properties so we’re sure you can eat as much of this dessert as you like.

• 250g pitted dates, chopped 
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 
• 125g unsalted butter, softened 
• 1 cup brown sugar 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 2 eggs 
• 1 3/4 cups self-raising flour 
• 1 tub good-quality vanilla bean ice-cream or coconut sorbet 
• 1 orange, cut into segments

Red date caramel sauce

• 1/2 cup red dates, pitted 
• 1 cup brown sugar 
• 300ml coconut cream 
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 60g unsalted butter 
• 2 tbs orange juice

Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan-forced and grease and flour 6 x 1-cup dariole moulds.

Place dates in a saucepan with 3/4 cup water and bring to the boil. Remove from heat, add bicarb (it will fizz up initially) and set aside for 15 minutes.

With an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each one.

Gently fold through the date mixture and flour. Divide into the dariole moulds and bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Set aside to cool slightly before turning out.

To make caramel sauce, soak red dates in boiling water for 30 minutes, then drain well and blitz in a food processor. Combine date paste, sugar, coconut cream, vanilla, butter and orange juice in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until the sauce comes to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and let it cook for about two minutes.

Put a little bit of caramel into the bottom of serving bowls. Top with a turned-out pudding, drizzle with more caramel and serve with a scoop of ice-cream or sorbet and an orange segment.

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