Christmas Pudding

Hmmmm, it's Sunday and that usually means I'm cooking. As christmas is approaching I've been busy in the kitchen since the morning. On todays schedule is mango preserve, orange marmelade, a christmas dinner for four with a roasted leg of lamb, rosmary potatoes and green beans, and the pièce de résistance: a christmas plum pudding, right now steaming on the stove.
I have found the recipe in a small cookbook I have borrowed from my sister-in-law; all about English puddings (I may never give it back). As I never make anything exactly like the recipe tells me to (for me they are more like guidelines), I have adjusted this recipe to my taste, too.

You need: breadcrumb, milk, sago, baking soda, sultanas, dates, butter, brown sugar, and eggs. I also added chopped almonds and prunes, and some cinnamon, ginger and cardamon.

The sago has to be soaked in the milk over night. The dried fruits are chopped into little pieces. The eggs are lighly beaten. Then you just mix everything together.

You might need some more liquid to have a smooth mass (I chose plum wine...hmmm, yummy, plum wine).  Then you fill it in either a pudding form (which I don't have) or another bowl that can hold 1.5l and can be placed in boiling water. Make sure to grease the bowl well.

After smoothing out the surface with a spoon you need to cover the bowl with tinfoil and baking paper. For that you grease a piece of tinfoil large enough to cover the bowl, the you put a piece of bakingpaper on top of it (the grease will keep it together), finally you fold it in the middle, so the steam has room.

Since I was not using a pudding form with a top, I also had to cover it with a dishcloth, which I affixed with a rubber band.

You can fold the ends underneath and make a handle, so you can place the pudding more easily in the pot (and also lift it out of the pot more easily). The pudding needs to be steamed for about 3.5 - 4 hours. For that you place a small teacup upside down in a large pot.

Then you place the bowl on top of it and fill up the pot with boiling water until the bowl is standing halfway in water. The water needs to be simmering the whole time and you may have to fill it up every once in a while.

As mine is not done yet, you'll have to wait a little before I can present the result, but I'll be posting pictures of it after we had our little christmas feast tonight.

Have a happy 4th of Advent! Can you tell I'm a little obsessed with food? (And guys in the kitchen?)