A look at pudding bowls, and a pudding

Emily from Kuala Lumpur wants to see details of steamed pudding bowls. I'm not sure, but I suspect that these are unique to New Zealand. Every recipe I see from England (the home of the steamed pudding) just uses a china pudding bowl covered with foil or paper and string.

Anyway, here are my pudding bowls:

This one is "my" one. I've owned it for years, and it's very similar to the one my mother had:

It closes by that long arm on the lid, it pivots around its rivet and hooks under the rim of the bowl, like so:

The short arm doesn't move, it just hooks under the rim on the other side.

My second pudding bowl is "Auntie H's bowl". It belonged to my Aunt Helen and I got it when she moved into a retirement home.

It has a completely different closure, being a nut that unscrews from a bolt that sticks through the lid …

… from the middle of the bowl:

And it makes a ring-shaped pudding. Obviously.

What better pudding to make in Auntie H's bowl than Auntie H's sago fruit pudding. Here's the recipe:

Auntie Helen was a typist and office manager, so her recipes (which I also inherited when she went into the home) are extremely well organised in little folders, and neatly typed.

Two tablespoons of sago …

… with enough milk to cover, and left to soak overnight:

A cup of breadcumbs …

… a cup of sugar …

… and a cup of raisins:

I prefer these "sticky" raisins:

Two tablespoons of melted butter …

… and a teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in boiling water …

… using the same cup I melted the butter in to save dishes …

… all mixed in together …

… put in the buttered pudding bowl  …

… and boiled in a pot of water for two hours:

I think I should have used slightly less milk, as it was a bit gooey:

But still delicious with custard on: