Recipes
From "Maple Street Co-op News", Dec 2004/Jan 2005
The Ultimate Organic Christmas Pudding
by Sue Verstraten
Tis the season for yummy, decadent food, and Christmas in our home has
one essential ingredient: the Christmas pudding. Everything else is
optional. This is my favourite recipe, and now you can enjoy this wonderful
food as it should be -- nothing like those awful supermarket offerings!
This is slow food, but worth every minute. You can add silver charms
or coins for a touch of festive fun, but make sure they're silver. Do
this when the pudding mix is on the cloth so you can spread them out
a little.
The pudding should be cooked well ahead and just reheated on the day.
This increases the flavour and reduces the stress! You will need a piece
of calico 650 x 650 cm, boiled for 20 minutes, plus cooking string.
I wish
you all a wonderful Christmas!
Organic Ingredients:
1 apple, grated
1 carrot, grated
1 banana
1 kg mixed dried fruit
250 g raisins
250 g dates
2 cups water
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 tsp salt
250 g butter
2 tspn bicarb soda
3 eggs
2 cups plain flour
2 cups self-raising flour
2 tspn mixed spice
2 tspn cinnamon
200 mL brandy
Method:
Put fruit, carrot, water, sugar, salt, butter in a large 8-10 litre
pot. Stir over low heat till butter has melted. Bring to boil, reduce
heat, simmer uncovered for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove
from heat, add soda, mix well. Allow to cool completely.
Beat eggs and rum together. Add egg mixture, flour and spice to fruit
mixture.
Lay out boiled cloth and sift extra plain flour over most of the cloth,
coming in 10 cm from the edge. This creates a skin and seals the pudding.
Now pile the mixture into the centre of the cloth and draw up the sides,
taking care not to allow any gaps. Leave a small amount of room for
expansion and tie with string. (A second set of hands at this point
is great, or a mixing bowl big enough can help keep the shape as you
tie off.) I always tie it off twice, just to be sure. Leave some length
of string to immerse into the boiling water.
It's important to keep the water boiling for six hours, and to top up
with boiling water -- never just hot water, as this will seep in and
make the pudding soggy. I usually top up every 30 minutes. When the
time is up, pull pudding up out of the water and hang till cool, then
store in a bag in the fridge.
Once a week up until the day, pour a little brandy or rum over the pudding
to preserve it. Finally, on the big day, boil a pot of water and cook
pudding for 1-1/2 hours. Again, never let the water go off the boil.
Pull out pudding and place on a large plate. Cut string gently and ease
off the cloth. Place another plate on top and flip. Peel off rest of
the cloth.
Pour a little brandy over the pudding and set it alight, carrying it
flaming to the table. Serve with whipped cream and brandy butter.
Brandy Butter Ingredients:
125 g butter
2 cups icing sugar
1 tspn brandy
Method:
Cream all ingredients together, put into a bowl and refrigerate until
required.
[From "Maple Street Co-op News", Apr/May 2005; published by
The Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny,
Qld 4552, Australia, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.co-op@serv.net.au,
website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]