Mákos Guba - Hungarian Poppy Bread Pudding

When I was a child I disliked poppy. Why? Well, I made very bad experiences with it in the school canteen. Once in a while they served pasta with poppy seed as a dessert, I tried it and was totally confused: a dessert that is not sweet? Huh?! I wasn't able to eat it and that ugly taste stopped me from trying my mom's poppy pie for years. What a pity! Ever since I tried that poppy pie of hers I became a poppy addict! There is a popular Hungarian dish: the Mákos Guba and until today I didn't dare to taste it because of those childhood memories. It is usually served after a rich soup as a second course or even on Christmas' Eve. The basic recipe is to pour some sweet hot milk over bread, sprinkle with ground poppy seed and bake or cook a custard using the milk with some egg yolks and pour that over the bread. I decided to try a bit different version with loads of poppy seed. To give the whole thing a fruity touch I served some sour cherry sauce with port wein among it, that was a nice contrast to the vanilla sauce.


Ingredients:
5 slices old bread (I used some leftover braided bread)
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
300 g poppy seed
400 ml milk
4 eggs
300 g sugar
zest of 1 lemon
4-5 tablespoon powder sugar
butter for the forms

Heat milk with vanilla paste and half of the sugar. Cut bread in cubes and place them in a sieve. Pour hot milk over the bread and let it drip. Separate eggs and add yolks to the milk. Mix ground poppy seeds with powder sugar and lemon zest then sprinkle it over the milky bread cubes. Beat egg white with the leftover sugar and fold to the bread. Butter the oven proof forms and cover with ground poppy. Add bread mixture and bake for 15 minutes on 180°C. For the vanilla sauce whisk milk with the yolks over steam until it thickens.