Veggie Christmas Pudding

Granted, some may say that it is a little late in the day to be making my Veggie Christmas Pudding, seeing as a darn proper domestic goddess would have, by now, her pudding stashed in the cupboard, and been gluttonously ‘feeding’ it brandy every few days. Such is the method implored by most cooks to create that wealthy flavour of boozy maturity. But, heck, the tree isn’t even up in my house yet.

But in my mind it is still, (un)officially a whole week to go yet until the Capitalist Santa’s birthday (where he celebrates by giving all the wealthy, Western kids presents from his TARDIS sleigh, pulled by a cow-like animal suffering from Rosacea) so plenty of time for the pudding to ripen.

Now, traditionally Christmas Puddings, like other steamed puds, are made using suet, which is a high energy fat product taken usually from cows. Luckily however, vegetarian suet products are widely available in most supermarkets. There are those naysayers, who ‘reckon that it ‘simply isn’t as good’ as using the carnivorous variety, but I can’t see how, through all those rich fruit and alcohol flavours, anyone can honestly tell the difference. Indeed, unlike the clear difference between cheese and its abomination vegan variety, those who say they can tell the difference with Christmas Puddings and the like, are tantamount to the pretensions of those who say they can taste blackberries, chocolate or car tyres in their supermarket plonk.

So, you will ideally need a hob top, pressure cooker for this task, as the usual steaming method is not efficient on time economy and can take 5 hours of cooking, plus. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, it really is wise to go on a borrow.

Ingredients

• Brandy, lots of, for your cooking and your afterwards ‘I made A Veggie Christmas Pudding’ celebration.
• A mix of raisins, sultanas and currents (to your liking) 300 grams.
• Dried prunes or figs or mixture 150 grams.
• Glacé cherries 150 grams.
• Wholemeal breadcrumbs 100 grams.
• Wholemeal flour 100 grams.
• Dark Muscovado sugar (or any dark or brown sugar, but Musco is best) 150 grams.
• 3 eggs.
• 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg.
• Grated flesh of two sweet apples and the grated zest of one orange.
• 2 medium sized pudding bowls, greaseproof paper, string and foil.

Method

On the morning of your pudding cooking (or the night before), roughly chop your figs or prunes and put them in a bowl with your other dried fruit (apart from the cherries). Now crack open the brandy, and fight off the dipsomaniacal desire to have a quick glass with your porridge, before pouring enough over the fruit to just cover it. Then leave for a few hours. If you’ve not organised yourself prior to cooking to do this in advance, don’t worry, it isn’t the end of the world.

In a different bowl mix your flour, breadcrumbs (you can buy ready made or make them by following this recipe) your grated apple flesh, orange zest, sugar and spices. Mix your three eggs separately before pouring over your dry mixture, and fold in to make a batter. Now add your fruit and batter mixtures together, along with the cherries.

You can then press down your pudding mix into your bowls; it should be enough to make roughly two medium sized puddings, but you can obtain incy wincy pudding bowls, if you want to be cute and make your puds in batches. Spread your mixture out evenly and compact down with the curvy end of a spoon. Lid your bowls/basins with greaseproof paper (I have been known to use a tea cloth, although this does get a bit of water in) and then tin foil. Now place the wrapped pudding in your pressure cooker, with water filled to a centimetre below the rim then follow the instructions to close the lid and place on steam on the hob. Cook for up to 90 minutes, but check half way through to see if your need to top up the water.

Once cooked, leave to cool before storing in a cool, dry place. Then find a yummy brandy butter or sauce recipe ready for Christmas day. And there we go, my Veggie Christmas Pudding.