Roopa Gulati's vegetarian Christmas pudding

Roopa Gulati's nut roast
Average rating: 3 out of 5 star rating

In Roopa Gulati's suet-free Christmas pudding, vegetarians get to enjoy all the highlights of Christmas without compromising on any of the taste

  • Prep time: 40 mins

  • Cooking time: 4 hrs

  • Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

For the pudding:

  • 100g plain flour1 tsp Mixed spice
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
  • pinch ginger powder
  • 100g fresh white breadcrumbs
  • 100g dark muscovado sugar
  • 150g chilled butter, diced
  • 150g sultanas
  • 150g raisins
  • 50g candied peel, diced
  • 1 apple, grated
  • 50g chopped dates
  • 50g honey or golden syrup
  • 1 lemon, grated rind and juice
  • 2 Eggs, lightly beaten
  • 60ml Brandy

For the brandy butter

  • 100g unsalted butter
  • 1 orange, grated rind
  • 100g icing sugar
  • 3 tbsp Brandy

For the flaming:

  • 2 tsp caster sugar, for dredging
  • 4-6 tbsp Brandy

Serving:

  • When you're ready to serve the puddings, return them to the pudding bowls and cover once more with greaseproof paper and secure with foil. Steam for about 45 minutes-1 hour, or until they have heated through.
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Method

  1. Sieve the flour and spices into a bowl and stir in the breadcrumbs and add the sugar.
  2. Rub the butter into this mixture until it resembles a rough breadcrumb texture.
  3. Stir in the sultanas, raisins, peel, grated apple and chopped dates.
  4. Lightly whisk together the golden syrup, lemon rind and juice, eggs and brandy. Pour into the fruit mixture and stir well to combine everything together.
  5. Lightly grease 2 x 500ml pudding basins and spoon in the Christmas pudding mixture. Fill to within about 1 cm from the top of the bowls.
  6. Cover each pudding with a disc of greaseproof paper and secure with a double layer of foil, tied in place with string.
  7. Steam each pudding for 2-3 hours, until they have darkened and are firm to the touch. To save time you can cook them in a pressure cooker for about 30 mins.
  8. Leave to cool slightly before turning out.
  9. When completely cool, wrap each pudding in greaseproof paper and store in an airtight tin. This pudding tastes even better if given a month or so to mature after steaming.

By Roopa Gulati

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Nutritional information

Guideline Daily Amount for 2,000 calories per day are: 70g fat, 20g saturated fat, 90g sugar, 6g salt.

http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/food/165311/Roopa-Gulati-s-vegetarian-Christmas-pudding