Red berry pudding (rote grütze)

This refreshing summer dessert takes advantage of the cherry and berry season. Rote grütze is a popular specialty from Northern Germany and has a lovely tart flavour. Serve with vanilla custard, cream or vanilla ice-cream.

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 600 g mixed berries and cherries (see Note)
• 1.5 litres (6 cups) red fruit juice (cherry, raspberry, or currant juice)
• 80 g caster sugar
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 35 g (¼ cup) cornflour
• 125 ml (½ cup) red wine

The following recipe has been tested and edited by SBS Food and may differ slightly from the podcast.

Chilling time 1 hour

Instructions

Rinse the fruit and place on paper towels to soak up excess water. Place the fruit, juice, sugar and lemon peel in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to the boil, lower heat and simmer for 3 minutes. (If using canned cherries, make sure you don’t cook them, but add them in after the cooking time). Whisk the cornflour and red wine together and add to the berries and cherries. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. The consistency should be more like a thick sauce than a jam. Set aside to cool and serve at room temperature, or cover and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

Serve with vanilla custard, cream or vanilla ice-cream.

Note

• Morello cherries are also called “sour cherries” and have a tart flavour. They are generally used for cooking and baking. You can source morello cherries from local farmers or a farmer's market. Otherwise, find them in glass jar in your local supermarket or delicatessen. You can substitute fresh morello cherries with canned or frozen fruit. If using the canned version, you may like to use the juice as the fresh fruit juice as required in the recipe. It is also possible to use frozen berries. When using frozen or canned fruit add after simmering the remaining fruit.

If your berries of choice are a little sweet and more tartness is desired, you can add one or two tablespoons of lemon juice.

• For mixed berries, use a combination of any of the following: raspberries, red and/or blackcurrants, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, and pitted morello cherries)

Photography by Alan Benson

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.