Egusi Pudding

Ground melon seeds mixed with meat stock, fish and seasoning, then steamed in a water bath until set into a firm savoury pudding. It is Nigerian, and it is a different use of egusi from the soup that the seed is best known for. Egusi is the seed of a melon grown across West Africa for the seeds rather than the flesh. Shelled, the kernels are pale and mild, and they are around half oil and a third protein, which is what makes this dish work at all, ground egusi has enough fat and protein to set into a solid pudding when steamed, in the same way a custard sets. The construction is a direct relative of moi moi, the steamed bean pudding, and the technique is the same: a wet, seasoned mixture poured into moulds and cooked in a water bath, traditionally wrapped in plantain or banana leaves, now often in ramekins or foil. The leaves flavour the pudding as it steams, which foil does not. The bain-marie is not optional. Direct heat would set the outside and curdle the mixture before the middle cooked; surrounding it with water holds the temperature down and gives an even, moist set throughout. The source's nutritional discussion of egusi has not been carried across, though the oil and protein content is genuinely what makes the technique possible.