Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Sweet Frumenty Pudding with Poached Blueberries

For this weeks Presto Pasta Night, I've delved into my cupboards and retrieved a rather interesting Greek pasta

sweet frumenty© by Haalo

First thoughts might be that this really doesn't look like pasta but consider it as a misshaped relative of couscous. While this particular brand is sold here as Sweet Frumenty, you might also find it labeled Trahanas.

There are two types of frumenty - sweet, which is made with sheeps milk, eggs and wheat flour while sour frumenty is made with yoghurt instead of milk. Don't be mistaken in thinking that the pasta is sweet, that just refers to the fact that it's made with "sweet milk" rather than yoghurt.

Frumenty should also not be confused with the medieval dish called Frumenty which is made from kibbled wheat.

I was told that it can be eaten a bit like porridge for breakfast so my recipe works upon that premise - though I'm safe to say, there's nothing remotely Greek or authentic in the dish I've made. Perhaps I'll leave that for next time.

I've decided to use the sweet frumenty and give it a creamed rice treatment - cooked in milk, sweetened to taste and served with a seasonal blueberry compote.

Sweet Frumenty Pudding with Poached Blueberries© by Haalo


Sweet Frumenty Pudding with Poached Blueberries

½ cup sweet frumenty
1 cup milk
caster sugar, to taste
blueberry compote or your favourite poached fruit


Unlike creamed rice, this will take somewhere between 5 to 10 depending on the brand of frumenty.

Heat up the milk in a saucepan and when just simmering, stir in the frumenty. Keep stirring to ensure it doesn't stick or burn - much as you would when making risotto. The frumenty will swell and the resulting mixture will thicken.

When the frumenty is almost cooked through, add sugar to taste, allowing it to totally dissolve. The finished product does look like a cross between thick porridge and creamed rice.

Serve it in bowls, topped with blueberry compote or your favourite poached fruit.

Sweet Frumenty Pudding with Poached Blueberries© by Haalo

It has quite a unique taste, tangy and nutty and rather filling - so a small portion will go a long away.

Don't forget you still have time to join in the fun of Presto Pasta Night - see this post for details .


14 comments

  1. This is so interesting! We have something similar here in Serbia, it's called tarana - grainy pasta. Recently there are some store bought versions that are nothing like homemades. They sell them in a form of tiny spheres, but the kind my grandmother used to make is much more like the one you have here. She used to grate the dough on the grater.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is... wow, gosh. I have *NEVER* heard of any frumenty other than than the medieval type! Wow. Totally new. It looks so delish, though!

    ReplyDelete
  3. trahanas! you either love it or hate it, to paraphrase the Marmite campaign:) I happen to absolutely love it, but I've never had it cooked like this, maybe never will,sorry!:), as it has such a distinctive smell, I think it comes from the milk that ferments slightly as the hand-crumbled little bits dry over a long time, spread on white sheets, making the whole house smell of trahanas (village memories:) My favourite trahanas version is a thick milky soup, made with thick milk and vegetable stock, and lots of feta cheese crumbled in the bowl, so that the heat of the milk makes them start to ooze, and very often I add chilli/cayenne/sm. paprica/tabasco, for a lovely pink hue and that irresistible cheese-and-peppers flavour. Sorry for the long comment, I told you I love trahanas:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Completely new to me, but it looks so creamy and delicious!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very interesting, and very delicious looking!

    ReplyDelete
  6. How lovely. I bet it would be an awesome breakfast treat. And thanks for hosting this week's PResto Pasta Night.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Can I have this for breakfast? Please?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks Marija - I believe they are related and these have those similar odd shapes as they are a hand made product.

    Thanks T!

    Love the long comment Heart - I think I know what I'll do with them next :)

    Thanks Nina!

    Thanks Y - they certainly have an interesting taste and I'm looking forward to doing more with them

    Thanks Ruth - it's my pleasure!

    Well, since you asked so nice Katie ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Groundbreaking as always, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who never heard of fermenty/trahanas. I hope I have the opportunity to try it and or cook with it sometime!

    ReplyDelete
  10. That looks really good! I was trying to find Trahanas a while ago but I could not find it...

    ReplyDelete
  11. I've never had this before. Looks delicious, especially with the blueberries!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks Mari and I hope you get to try some!

    Thanks Kevin - maybe an online store might be the go?

    Thanks Nate & Annie!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow.This looks amazing. This is the new item for me but i can't wait to try this. Thanks for recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks James - hope you enjoy it!

    ReplyDelete

© Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once | All rights reserved.
BLOG TEMPLATE HANDCRAFTED BY pipdig