Well it's pouring down with icy cold rain - a lovely day for staying at home and catching up with life. I've been pottering round the kitchen, reorganising the cupboards and making Christmas pudding and (since what is a pudding cloth but a furoshiki by another name?) I thought I'd share the results.
Pudding topped with greaseproof paper, waiting to be wrapped - I just wanted to show a picture of the basin, an old one of my Gran's which is now a lovely mottled colour after years of pudding making service:
Pudding wrapped and ready to steam:
Both the pudding recipe and the wrap are super simple. Here's the recipe for the pudding: In a large bowl, mix 1 mug of each of the following: plain flour, brown sugar, currants, sultanas, suet, white breadcrumbs plus 1.5 teaspoons of mixed spice and 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder. Add 1 mug of milk and stir well. Put into greased pudding basin (to give some idea of size, mine holds c 2.5 pints), cover with greaseproof paper (with a pleat in the middle) and secure with string. Tie in pudding cloth using water melon wrap and steam for at least 6 hours. This should be done about a month before you want to eat it. On day of use steam for a further 2 hours.
And here's a reminder of the "watermelon" ... "pumpkin" ... and now "Christmas pudding" wrap ...
Oh, Thank-you for posting this recipe. My paternal grandmother made it every Christmas, but I had long ago lost the recipe. I'm so happy to see it again!
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it, Olga. I've just been browsing your blog and will have to give your chocolate ginger cake a go - http://confessionsofagrandma.blogspot.com/2010/11/busy-days.html - I haven't tried baking a cake like that before.
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