We all want some figgy pudding!

 

Mrs PP reporting in for a little Christmas cheer.

There were no Carols by Candlelight here this year due to the rain. The rain was very welcome though, and topped up the tanks and soaked into the soil. Light enough to be damp and long enough to go deep in the soil.

I am not the chef in our house, but I love to dabble and experiment with cooking. Sometimes it works, sometimes we have eggs and sweet potato toast. We moved to eating a reduced gluten diet over a decade ago and really haven’t looked back. The energy shift for me was incredible. Perhaps more on that some other time. Right now we have some puddings to create!

This figgy pudding was something I just made up, with my thermomix, but it turns out it is somewhat similar to one made by quirky Jo Whitton at Quirky Cooking. I promise I have been making this for years. My inspiration was to satisfy the desire for fruit cake. It is yummy hot or cold.

Mrs PP’s Steamed Figgy Pudding
(with the Thermomix, but you could easily convert this for a  regular kitchen)

Ingredients

1 whole nutmeg
1 Cinnamon stick
8 Cloves
8 Whole black pepper corns
Zest of 2 Oranges (organic or backyard spray free ones are awesome)
Juice of 2 oranges
330g Apple peeled and cored
380g Sweet potato peeled and roughly chopped
100g Currants
100g Prunes pitted
100g Sultanas (organic if you can)
100g Dried Figs
180g Dried pitted dates (check for pits)
65g Craisins
80g Masala
130g Rapadura sugar
200g Almond meal
180g Potato flour starch (I have absolutely no idea what the difference is between potato flour and starch, haven’t seen any difference in baking yet either)
2 Eggs

OH MY Goodness! Are you exhausted yet? No wonder I only do this once a year, but it is worth it.

1. Peel the zest from the oranges.

2. Put zest, and all the spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, pepper) in the TMX and blend on speed 8 for 15 seconds (it’s loud).

3. Add the apple and chop on speed 4 for 5 seconds (think coleslaw type chunks) and empty into a very large, non-reactive bowl. It should look like the photo below

4. Add the sweet potato, figs and dates into the TMX and chop on speed 4 for 5 seconds. Empty into the bowl with the apple mixture.

5. Add the orange juice and the rest of the dried fruit, Masala and rapadura sugar into the bowl. Mix it together. Oooh, smell that! Then get everyone in the house to smell it too! Lovely! Ok, Now you can cover it and leave it overnight to think about itself. Do not refrigerate as we are encouraging a small amount of fermentation to take place.

6. The next day (or the one after that if you run out of time) make the almond meal (TMX 200g Almonds on speed 8 for 10 seconds max) and add it along with the flour and eggs to that lovely, boozy, fruity smelling mix.

7. Put the mixture into your choice of silicone cupcake moulds or ramekins or even glass pudding bowls. Put at least 1L of water in the TMX and steam for 45 mins at varoma temperature.

8. Now when you reach this stage, you can freeze them. They will still be soft. Or you can steam another 45 mins and they will be ready to eat. Remember to add more water to the bowl before the second steam. Let them sit for a minute of two before you unmould them. If you freeze them they should need another 30 mins steaming or so to heat up before eating.

So this is a traditional type pudding, it’s not really all that quick. If you want it to set quicker, use a more robust grainy flour like sorghum instead of potato.

But oh my, they are figgy and soft and full of flavour. Do yourself a favour!

We won’t go until we get some, we won’t go until we get some, we won’t go until we get some, so BRING SOME RIGHT HERE!