Thickening Liquorice Pudding

Our answer

Nigella's Liquorice Puddng (from NIGELLISSIMA) is a smooth, softly set pudding that is thickened with cornflour (cornstarch). The closest substitute would be potato starch, however make sure that it is the fine, bright white, powdery type of potato starch (sometimes labelled as fécule) and not potato flour. Potato flour tends to be more of a cream colour and is coarser in texture and is not suitable.

We understand that you should use the same quantity of potato starch (2 teaspoons) and mix it with the milk, in the same way that you do for the cornflour, before adding the mixture to the hot cream. However, potato starch tends to thicken at lower temperatures than cornflour, so when you put the pan back on the heat watch it carefully and take it off the heat as soon as the mixture thickens. Avoid boiling the mixture with potato starch, as this can make the mixture thin again. We would mention, however, that as we have not tried the Liquorice Pudding with potato starch, we are unable to guarantee the results.