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Melkkos
Melkkos: Karoo milk pudding thickened with buttery flour crumbs, with cinnamon sugar
Ask a Karoo grandmother what supper was on a cold winter night on the farm and melkkos often comes up: a pot of hot milk thickened with little crumbs of flour and butter, ladled into bowls and dusted heavily with cinnamon sugar. It was the cheap, filling meal made when the cow was milking well, eaten as a pudding or as the whole evening meal with a slice of bread. The texture is soft and slightly lumpy, like a loose rice pudding, with tiny tender dumplings scattered through a silky, faintly sweet milk scented with cinnamon stick. Too much heat is the thing to avoid: milk catches quickly on the base of the pot and a scorched taste runs right through it. Chef's tip: rub the butter into the flour until it feels like coarse breadcrumbs with a few pea-sized bits, because those bigger bits become the best little dumplings.
- Total time
- 25 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the pudding
- 4 ¼ cups full-fat milk
- 4 oz plain flour
- 1 ⅜ oz cold butterdiced
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
For the cinnamon sugar
- 4 tbsp caster sugarfor sprinkling
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Pour 4 ¼ cups full-fat milk into a heavy-based saucepan, add 1 cinnamon stick and warm over a medium-low heat until small bubbles form around the edge and it steams. Do not let it boil up.
6 minStep 2: Meanwhile, put 4 oz plain flour and ¼ tsp salt in a bowl, add 1 ⅜ oz cold butter and rub it in with your fingertips until it looks like coarse crumbs, with some bits the size of peas.
Step 3: Sprinkle the crumbs over the hot milk a handful at a time, stirring all the while with a wooden spoon so they don't clump into one big lump.
Step 4: Keep the heat low and stir steadily, scraping the base of the pot, until the milk thickens to the consistency of pouring custard and the crumbs have swollen into soft little dumplings.
12 minStep 5: Stir in 1 tbsp caster sugar and fish out the cinnamon stick.
Step 6: Mix 4 tbsp caster sugar and 2 tsp ground cinnamon in a small bowl. Ladle the melkkos into warm bowls and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar thickly over the top. Serve hot.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 390 kcal
- Protein
- 11 g
- Carbs
- 52 g
- Fat
- 16 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does melkkos take?
- About 25 minutes in total: 5 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of full-fat milk?
- Oat, soy or almond milk, same amount (use unsweetened for savoury dishes).
- What can I use instead of cinnamon stick?
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon per stick.
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