General Chat

Well, that's the pudding mixture now made and we will leave it to mature overnight before cooking.

We 'tweak' the recipe each year and this time instead of using sugar we have added grated beetroot.

The mix is not dark, but a nice shade of light red :-S

I did suggest to OH that we add some green food dye to it to give it a very traditional colour combination, but when I saw the glint in her eye and the rolling pin in her hand, I decided that discretion was the better part of valour :-D

So, we'll leave the mix overnight and then start putting it into small basins before microwaving them.

OZ is just too hot to have them steaming for a few hours.

Put them outside in the sun soon warm up I love beetroot put it with meats & cheese bit not in a pud :-D

I make an ice cream style one that goes down very well :-D

Barbra, we have used the beet in place of sugar. Also, as genuine suet is difficult to source in WA, we use olive oil.

There is an abattoir near us where we can obtain suet, but it's such a clat to buy and then render. Olive oil is so much easier.

Pat, although we have lived in WA for over thirty years, we still try to have a 'traditional' Christmas, albeit heavily modified :-D

Know what you are saying about the sugar when I get beetroot cook my own love it put herbs in .you will have the richness in your pud & colour .

Allan, we bought ice cream Xmas puds when we lived in Oz and I have made the odd one here too.

I always buy (for myself) a Pimms and Lemon Pud and for others a variety of different ones.

I'm not overly fond of ice-cream.

We've used this recipe from the time we got our first microwave oven back in 1970. The original recipe came in the book with the oven and was a fairly basic one, which we have modified over the years by adding to it.

This year was the first using beetroot, but we do also put a carrot in; grated, I hasten to add :-D :-D

The puds freeze well and are defrosted in the microwave, no clatting around with steamers.

Sounds an interesting recipe, Allan.I might try and adapt ours.

I remember as a child I had the job of grating carrot to put in the Christmas pudding.

Daughter makes our pudding each year. Like you, we've used the same recipe for years. It has no flour, but has fresh breadcrumbs to bulk it out, but that makes for a lighter pudding, but still with all the traditional taste.
We cook it in the pressure cooker, then on the day we use the microwave.

Here is the recipe (much modified over the years) that we use

8oz 200 gm S R Flour
3 tsp 15 ml Mixed spice
3 tsp 15 ml Nutmeg
3 tsp 15 ml Cinnamon
6 oz 175 gm Breadcrumbs
1 cup 1 cup Olive oil
1¼ lbs
600 gm Mixed fruit (currants, raisins, sultanas)
2 oz 50 gm Mixed chopped peel 1½ lbs mixed fruit
2 oz 50 gm Glace cherries – quartered
8 oz 225 gm Soft brown sugar

1 Orange Grated rind
1 Lemon Grated rind + juice of ½ lemon
1 mandarin Grated rind
1 Apple Grated and peeled


4 Eggs Beaten

4 Tbs 4 x 15 ml Black treacle
2 Tbs 2 x 15 ml Milk
¼ pint 150 ml Stout (Guinness)

4 oz 100 gm Flaked almonds
4 oz 100 gm Crushed nuts
1 cup 1 cup Carrot

Method
• Sift flour and spices into a large bowl.
• Add all dry ingredients and mix well.
• Mix in all other ingredients and leave overnight in cool place.
• Stir again, making a wish

• Lightly grease pudding basins.
• Divide mixture into basins, covering with clingwrap – slit few holes in it.
• Cook in microwave - small puddings for 5 minutes or larger ones 7 to 8 minutes turning half way through cooking.
• When cool, wrap in greaseproof paper, then put in plastic bags and freeze.

• Defrost.
• Re-heat for 3 to 4 minutes and serve with brandy sauce.

• (to cool! - pudding before eating pour brandy over hot pudding then the sauce). Hic…
Merry Christmas

The cooking times aren't exact and depend on how 'dry' or 'wet' the mix is.