Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 15 minutes | Cooking Time: 55 minutes
Ingredients for pudding:
Ingredients for sauce:
Grease a 850ml | 1.5 pint pudding basin, using 1 teaspoon of the butter. Bring the milk to just below boiling point in a saucepan, over moderate heat. Remove the pan from the heat and add the crumbed biscuits, stirring until soft. Beat in the sugar, eggs and vanilla essence until well blended. Pour the mixture into the greased pudding bowl. Cut a circle of baking parchment and one of aluminium foil about 10cm | 4in larger than the diameter of the pudding bowl. Tie these securely with string (foil uppermost) around the rim of the bowl. Place a large, deep saucepan, half-filled with water, over a high heat, and bring to the boil. Put the bowl in the pan, cover it and reduce the heat to low. Boil for 45-50 minutes, or until the pudding is firm, adding more water if necessary.
Apricot Sauce: Although imported apricots are available at this time of the year they are completely tasteless, and like cotton wool to the touch so canned apricots are best. Pour the reserved apricot juice into a small saucepan and add the chopped apricots, ginger and lemon juice. Bring to the boil over a moderate heat. Add the dissolved cornflour, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and stir for 2 – 3 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Remove from the heat and keep warm.
Remove the large saucepan from the heat and lift out the pudding bowl. Discard the covering, invert a serving dish over the top of the pudding bowl, and reverse them. The pudding should slide out easily onto the plate. Decorate the top with the reserved apricot halves and pour the sauce over. Serve immediately.
