Malva Pudding with Vanilla Custard

This is my favorite South African dessert.  It is more like a very moist cake and less like what we Americans would call "pudding".  Calling "cake" "'pudding" just sounds very fancy.

I have no idea what "malva" means.  When I looked it up on Wikipedia I found that malva is a genus of about 25-30 species of herbaceous annual, biennial and perennial plants in the family Malvaceae.  Whatever that means.

I'm reasonably certain this is not what Malva pudding is named after.

Malva pudding can be served with ice cream or custard.  Custard is not easily found in the US, but it is pretty easy to make and delicious.  Here in South Africa, custard is found in every grocery store.  I think it's considered a staple.

This recipe is from my good friend Rebecca.  She is married to a South African (her and her husband Derek run the YWAM Rustenburg base.)


Malva Pudding
1 egg
1/2 C sugar
1 C flour
1 T apricot jam
pinch of salt
1 1/2 t vinegar
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda mixed in 1 C milk


Beat egg and sugar.  Add all other ingredients except milk and baking soda, mix well and then add milk mixture.


Pour into 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until pudding is firm.  Remove from oven and prick with a fork.


While the pudding is in the oven, prepare the sauce.


Sauce:
1 C sugar
1/2 C boiling water
1 C milk, evaporated milk or heavy cream
1/4 pound butter
1 t vanilla extract


Cook and stir until sugar is dissolved.  While still warm, pour over pudding.


Return to oven and cook for 2-3 more minutes.  (Set a timer or you may forget about it in there, don't ask why I know this.)


Serve with vanilla ice cream or custard (or both, as I like it.  Really, at this point there is no reason to even pretend this recipe is low fat or healthy in any way.)

Custard
1/2 C sugar
3 T cornstarch
1/2 t salt
4 egg yolks
3 C milk
2 T butter or margarine
2 t vanilla extract


Bring the first 5 ingredients to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly (OK, so I never whisk anything constantly.  Honestly, who has time to stand over the stove for 20 minutes whisking something the entire time.  I would just whisk every few minutes or so and make sure it's not burning.)  Boil and whisk until mixture thickens.


Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.   At this point you can either serve it over the pudding, or chill in the fridge.  You may want to lay heavy duty plastic wrap on the surface if you are going to let it chill, unless you like pudding skin singles.


While I was searching for custard recipes, I came across a recipe for Chocolate Malva Pudding.  Now, I am a firm believer in getting as much chocolate into your dessert as possible, so I can't imagine that adding chocolate to my favorite dessert would make it anything other than delectable.

I haven't tried this recipe yet, but it looks so delicious that I thought my fellow chocolate lovers would be happy to know that there is a chocolate version.  If you make this, please let me know how it turns out!

Chocolate Malva Pudding
(I converted this from a recipe that used metric measurements, that's why the amounts are slightly strange.)

Sauce:
1 1/2 C heavy cream
Slightly less than 3/4 C sugar
1/2 C butter
1/4 C cocoa powder

Mix all sauce ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring.  Boil for 2 minutes then remove from heat and set aside.

Pudding:
1 1/4 C self rising flour
2 T apricot jam
2 T butter
1 t baking soda mixed in 1/2 C plus 1 t milk
5 1/2 T sugar
1 egg
1 T plus 1 t white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream together butter and sugar.  Add egg and beat until light and fluffy.  Beat in apricot jam.


Stir together flour and salt and add to butter, sugar, egg mixture.  Stir and then add in milk mixture, mixing well.  Stir in vinegar.


Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. 

Pour 1/2 of sauce over unbaked pudding.  Cover the pudding with foil and bake for 25 minutes.  Remove from oven.


Pour remaining sauce over half baked pudding and bake uncovered for 10-15 more minutes or until middle of pudding is set.

Serve with ice cream and or custard and or whipped cream.


YUM!!


~Jenny

Wordless Wednesday

Shoes in Phokeng

Recently we handed out over 300 pairs of shoes to kids in Phokeng.  Below is a video of that day. 

Playground in Phokeng

Below is a video that my friend Derek put together showing the playground that we built at the orphan care project in Phokeng.







~Lincoln

An Old Geyser

Frequently we get asked about what we actually do in South Africa.

The answer to that question is extremely varied and changes almost daily based on what is going on at the moment.  Often times part of our job revolves around preparing for, and hosting visiting teams.

This week Jeff and Abby (engageafrica.com), who also live and work on the Lighthouse Shelter property, are hosting a team of highschoolers from Wisconsin.  

The team's first night here we found out that the geyser (hot water heater, pictured above) in the dorm was broken.  They had to take cold showers after 3 days of travel, not a very friendly welcome.

So my Saturday was spent replacing the old geyser with a new one.  It wasn't necessarily what I had planned for the day, but that pretty much describes every day here.

We just take life as it comes.  Sometimes it's a broken geyser, sometimes it's a sick baby going to the doctor, sometimes it's receiving donations.  One thing is for sure, it's rarely quiet and boring here.

~Lincoln

Community Development

Yesterday we met with some experts in community development.  We went out to see the orphan care projects at Martha's and Agnes' houses in Phokeng.  These are women who care for orphans in their neighborhood and we've come alongside them to help. 

We want to help them to make a difference in the lives of orphans, but we want to be strategic about that help.  We are aware of the pitfalls that can be found when well intentioned missionaries give to those in need and create unintended consequences.  More than anything we want to empower them to succeed in life and not enable them to depend on us.

The exciting opportunity here is that we can truly make a difference in the lives of these young children.  We can have a huge impact in their young lives.  The danger is that we throw money at a problem without truly making any real long term impact.  This would actually do more harm than good.

So as we move forward with our work in Phokeng we are trying to be careful to be intentional and strategic about each step.  I think we are on the right path, but we need God's direction and insight.  Please pray that we would follow God's lead in our work here.

~Lincoln

Interview with Madison - Age 10

What do you like about living in South Africa?
There is a place called Pilanesberg near where we live where you can drive around and look at different animals in the wild.

Christmas is in the summer here, so we can swim on Christmas.

I like being able to play outside everyday, even in the winter.  And we can be barefoot all the time in the summer.  We can even go shopping and to restaurants barefoot.

I have made new friends here. 

What do you  dislike about living here?
The internet, power and water are going off all the time.

It's extremely cold here in the winter and we don't have heat inside the house.

I miss my friends and family from the States.

There isn't much to watch on TV.  We have 4 channels, 2 are usually in a foreign language and the other 2 have South African shows. 

How is it different here than in the USA? 
They call stop lights "robots" here.

They call napkins "serviettes" here.

There are really nice houses right next to shacks.

We have a movie theater but it only plays 4 movies at a time.  1 is usually a kid's movie.  There is no butter on the popcorn at the theater.

There is no heat in the house.

We drive on the opposite side of the road and the steering wheel is on the opposite side of the car. 

How is it similar to the US? 
We live in a house that is kind of like houses in the States.

We have a small mall and a grocery store. 

What can you get to eat here that you can't in the US? 
Pap - it's kind of like grits. 

Rusks - they are a hard, dried out biscuit that you dip in tea or coffee.

There is a restaurant called Carnivore, you can eat all types of different meat - giraffe, zebra, impala, crocodile. 

Do you like working at the Lighthouse Children's Shelter? Why? 
Yes, because I know that we are helping children.  I like all the little babies, they are adorable. 


How is the weather different? 
In winter, the weather outside is warm, but it never warms up in the house.

It doesn't snow here.

We can play outside in the winter.

It gets much hotter here in the summer.

We get huge rain storms that sometimes last for days. 

What are your favorite things to do here? 
I like to swim and go to Pilanesberg and Sun City (a water park that is about an hour away.)

I like going to the big mall in Pretoria.  At the mall they have a Build A Bear and they have a springbok stuffed animal that you can get there.

I like to eat at a restaurant called Mugg & Bean. 

Is school the same here as in the US? 
It's the same for us because we home school. 

How about for the other kids? 
No, it is different.  The kids here have to wear uniforms and the schools are a lot more strict.  They have school all year long and they start their new school year in January. 

Where is your favorite place to take visitors to South Africa? 
Carnivore, Pilanesberg and the Lion Park. 

Is there anything else you'd like to say about South Africa? 
South Africa rocks!  I love it here.

Wordless Wednesday

Isabel is 11 months old

Check out her blog to see more pictures.

Samaritan's Feet

Today my mother-in-law Linda, my 2 older kids and I were fortunate to be part of a shoe distribution organized by the local YWAM team.  An organization called Samaritan's Feet donated hundreds of brand new shoes.  We met in the morning at Agnes' house in Phokeng.  Agnes is a woman in the community who has opened her home to orphans in the area.  The children visit everyday to get a meal after school.  She has about 60 kids that know her as "Mama Agnes."  
 

 A group of kids playing games before getting shoes

This morning hundreds of kids and adults from the community came to Mama Agnes' house for new shoes.  The kids played games and had a short Bible lesson.  Then we washed their feet, tried on new shoes, and prayed with each one.

 This is me washing the feet of this beautiful little girl.

 She had such a brilliant smile after getting her new shoes.

 It was a very cool experience for everyone involved.  Especially for the adults that we served, I'm sure that they never imagined in a million years that white people would be washing their feet and giving them new shoes.

Our kids, Madison and Kyler, were able to spend the day working with us.  They both served as "runners."  Their job was to run to the shoe storage room and get the correct shoe size and type.  One thing that I love about my job is that my kids can work side by side with me.  What a memorable experience for them.

Jenny's mom, Linda, is visiting us right now.  She was able to work with us for the day.  Her job was to tell the story of the founder of Samaritan's feet, a man from Nigeria whose life was changed when a stranger gave him his first shoes as a young boy. 

Click Here to watch a video of one 14 year old boy who received shoes. 


~Lincoln

One of Those Days

I wrote this post earlier this week and have debated about whether or not I should post it.  I want to be honest here on our blog, but I'm afraid of being "too" real.  I was angry the day I wrote this post, here is the toned down version . . .


Some days I can numb myself slightly and shut out the abuse and neglect inflicted upon children.  This is the only way I can do and see what I do and see on a daily basis without completely losing my mind.

Other days I absorb their abuse and pain into my being and feel it so deeply that it seems my heart is going to shatter.

Today was one of those days.

We received some distressing and sad news regarding a child who spent years here at the shelter and was recently placed in a foster home.  Shortly after that I had to turn away two sick, abandoned siblings because we are at our maximum amount of children and don't have the finances to hire more staff to care for more children.

As the woman who brought the abandoned babies to us was leaving she broke down and started sobbing saying "I don't know what I'm going to do with these babies."  We gave her the help that we could; some formula, baby food, clothes, the phone number to a shelter in another town, and I gave her some money, but that was all I could do.

I have no idea what will happen to these two babies, I will most likely never see them or hear about them ever again.

What makes me very angry is when the neglect comes from "christians".  People who are interested more in appearing like they care and receiving accolades from others for their "charity work" than getting their hands dirty, doing what the Bible commands and actually making a difference in the lives of others.  People who have the ability and resources to help but won't.  People who want their egos stroked and want others to know how sacrificing and selfless they are before they will even step foot near a child in need.

Well, I don't have time for that!

There are children dieing and starving and being beaten while we're busy patting each other on the back and tiptoeing around each other's feelings.

I'm sorry that this post is not upbeat and happy, but to be completely honest, sometimes working here can be very difficult.  Sometimes horrible things happen to children and we can't do anything at all to stop it or do anything to help.   Sometimes our hands are tied and there is absolutely nothing we can do.  Some days I want to pack my family up and get on the next plane back to the US.

Some days I feel completely defeated and useless.

Today was one of those days.

~Jenny

Pilanesberg

My mom arrived on Tuesday and today we took her to Pilanesberg.   Here are a few pictures from the day.

 We saw quite a few hippos, something that we've never seen close up before.  They are usually sitting mostly in the water with just their eyes and ears showing.

We saw so many wildebeests.  My mom joked that on Sundays all the animals draw to see which day they would be out, and today was the Wildebeest day.

One more of the many, many wildebeest we saw.

A black backed jackal on the road.

We stopped for ice cream and there were monkeys everywhere begging for food.

Two rhinos

Giraffe and beautiful scenery.

Isabel

Kendi

Kyler

Madison

Cute kids

My mom, Kendi and Madison

~Jenny