Meaning of Pudding of a young man

Could someone explain what the pudding means here. I'm a bit confused.

From the stammering and awkward conversation, she had with Haroun that day Naveed discovered to her consternation that her future husband had no ambitions and a tiny appetite. Nor was he in any hurry to have children. The confidence with which Naveed had stated, 'I'll fix him,' ebbed out of her in the physical presence of this pudding of a young man

From Salman Rushdie - Shame.

From wider context: Naveed met her future husband Haroun for the first time and is really disappointed.

Solution 1:

As noted by the Oxford dictionary, the term "pudding" means a dessert of creamy consistency but can also be used informally as an insulting term for a person. In its informal sense, it carries connotations that the person is fat and stupid. See https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/pudding for the full explanation.

The insult - especially for a man - comes from the fact that a pudding is, by definition, very soft and typically shapeless (or taking the shape of the bowl in which it is served rather than having a strong shape of its own).

Naveed is clearly looking for a "manly" man who has ambitions, a strong appetite and a wish to start a family.

By using the term "pudding of a man" to refer to Haroun, the author shows that Naveed considers Haroun as weak, soft and shapeless.