Homemade Holidays : An Exile in New York, a military brat, a mom who poached a tree. . .and the search for figgy pudding. ‘Tis the season to remember. With recipes. : No More Figgy Pudding

This is my last try. After this Christmas, figgy pudding, no matter how wonderful or dreadful, will be put to rest in figgy pudding heaven.

Figgy pudding came into my life as a Christmas song. Remember? “Now bring us some figgy pudding?” A bunch of kindergarten kids, 5, 6 years old, maybe younger, stood like birthday candles on the stage of our grade school auditorium on the Lower East Side in New York belting out the song.

None of us, to be sure, had ever tasted figgy pudding except in our dreams. Our moms made rugelach, baklava, honey cake, marbled sponge cake and strudel. Never figgy pudding. My mother made kabuni, a sweet Oriental rice topped with jewel-like flecks of golden and black raisins, almonds and orange peel that had sizzled in bubbling butter. That was Christmas dessert when I was in kindergarten and my mother was a new immigrant from Albania.

Fantasizing about figgy pudding became an obsession year after year until I learned how to cook and drummed up enough courage to try steamed puddings. What a big deal they were: a proper mold, a pot that fit the mold, a yard of cheesecloth or parchment--the kind of equipment you’d readily find in an English or Yankee kitchen. Never on the Lower East Side.

My first figgy pudding (I assumed it contained dried figs) was a flop. It stuck to the sides of the mold I’d forgotten to oil and plopped out of the pan in hunks and pieces too numerous to patch. The others weren’t much better. Something was wrong. But what?

I consulted the Boston Cooking School magazines and other cookbooks. I was wrong. In the West Country, on the farthest tip of England, claims British cookbook author Audrey Ellis, figgy means full of raisins or currants, rather than figs.

So? I substituted raisins and currants for the figs. Same result. That year figgy pudding made with raisins instead of figs also stuck like glue to the rotary blades of my broken hand whipper. (I never did own an electric job or a food processor. The primitive gesture, that’s what I live and die for, even though it breaks my wrist every time.) That figgy pudding was no good either.

So what’s a good figgy pudding, I finally asked myself? Maybe there is none. Maybe figgy pudding is supposed to taste like glue, stick to rotary blades, crumble into a million pieces and bounce off the table onto your nice waxed floor. Maybe I just dreamed it was good. Maybe you’re supposed to. On second thought I think I’ll just stick to my mother’s Christmas dessert. It has raisins and currants in it too.

KABUNI (Jeweled Rice Dessert)

4 cups water

2 cups rice

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste

1/2 cup currants

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds

Grated zest of 1 or 2 oranges or 1/4 cup diced candied orange peel

1/4 cup diced candied cherries, optional

Heat water in heavy saucepan. Add rice and simmer over low heat until rice is just tender, being careful not to overcook. Drain, if necessary. Cover pot with absorbent kitchen cloth extending over rim of pot. Top with lid. Cloth will absorb excess moisture to keep rice from sticking and kernels separated.

Melt butter in skillet. Add sugar and cinnamon and stir to dissolve. Add currants, raisins, almonds orange zest and cherries. Cook, tossing, until raisins and currants are plumped and heated through. Add half fruit mixture to rice and stir lightly but thoroughly. Place rice mixture on serving platter and top with remaining fruit mixture. Serve rice with some fruit mixture on top for jeweled effect. Makes 6 servings.

Each serving contains about:

448 calories; 5 mg sodium; 41 mg cholesterol; 20 grams fat; 65 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 0.85 gram fiber.

Note: Touch of Sherry, brandy or orange-flavored liqueur can be added to fruit mixture. To flambe fruit mixture, add brandy, heat and ignite. Let flames die down before adding fruit mixture to rice. (Caution is advised when flambeing any food.)

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