Christmas is a time for getting together with family and, for many home cooks, it is also time to bring out those delicious traditional recipes that only get made once a year.
For many years, that meant baking up the family’s traditional Christmas plum pudding for GemLife Pacific Paradise resident Fiona Keatinge who admits `it’s not Christmas without the pudding’.
“The history of our Christmas pudding was very traditional for my family (the Jacksons) and something that was a festive staple on our culinary spread every year as kids. Even when we grew up, my brother, sister and I would still turn up at mum’s place for Christmas lunch or dinner and there would always be mum’s traditional Christmas plum pudding, which was a favourite,” said Fiona.
Eventually, the important cooking task was handed over to the three children, who all took turns at creating the much-loved festive pudding.
“I would start marinating the fruit in the first week of December. Then I would get out the big, old fashioned mixing bowl and a huge saucepan to steam the pudding in because you had to fill it with water and then put the pudding basin filled with the mixture into it. It would simmer for about five hours before being put into the fridge,” Fiona explained.
“Then, on Christmas Day, I would take it out of the basin, and heat it in the microwave before heating the brandy to go on top.”
“I remember cooking it up a couple of months ahead and wrapping it in a calico rag, but then my husband Gerald and I started our own family tradition by introducing a gluten-free sago plum pudding, modelled on a recipe I found in an old Women’s Weekly,” said Fiona.
Fiona and Gerald, who have been married 37 years, made the change to their festive menu after their daughter was diagnosed as a celiac, having an immune reaction to eating gluten, in 2008.
“We didn’t want her to go without Christmas pudding so I started cooking the gluten-free sago pudding which was much lighter in texture, and I could make it in a day,” she said.
Fiona admits the recipe felt a little weird to whip up at first and involved replacing breadcrumbs with gluten-free fruit bread as well as the use of sago, but the new festive twist has since become a family favourite. To try her recipe, visit www.gemlife.com.au/pudding
Fiona’s Traditional Christmas Plum Pudding
Method
- Stir fruit, the water, sugars, and butter in large saucepan over heat without boiling, until sugars dissolve; bring to the boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 8 minutes. Stir in soda; cool.
- Stir egg, rum, breadcrumbs, and sifted dry ingredients into fruit mixture.
- Fill a large boiler three-quarters full of hot water, cover; bring to the boil. Have string and extra flour ready. Wearing thick rubber gloves, drop pudding cloth in boiling water, squeeze excess water from cloth. Spread hot cloth on bench, rub extra flour onto cloth 40cm (16 inches) in diameter, leaving flour a little thicker in centre.
- Place pudding mixture in centre of cloth. Tie cloth tightly with string as close to mixture as possible. Knot two pairs of corners together.
- Lower pudding into boiling water. Cover with tight lid; boil 6 hours, replenishing water as necessary to maintain water level.
- Lift pudding from water, place in large colander; cut string, carefully peel back cloth. Turn pudding onto a plate; carefully peel away cloth, cool. Stand 20 minutes before serving.
INGREDIENTS
- 4 cups mixed dried fruit
- 1 1/3 cup seeded dried dates, chopped coarsely
- 1 1/4 cup raisins, chopped coarsely
- 1 1/2 cup (375ml) water
- 3/4 cup caster (superfine) sugar
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 250g (8 oz) butter, chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3 eggs, beaten lightly
- 1/4 cup (60ml) dark rum
- 3 cup firmly packed fresh white breadcrumbs
- 1 3/4 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 60-centimetre (24-inch) square of calico
- Extra – 1/3 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
- Kitchen string
Tip: You’ll need a 60cm (24-inch) square of unbleached calico for the pudding cloth. If the calico hasn’t been used before, start with an 80cm (16-inch) square of calico, soak in cold water overnight. The next day, boil it for 20 minutes, rinse in cold water and cut to a 60cm (24-inch) square. To store pudding, we prefer to remove the cloth rather than hang the pudding, as mould can form in the Queensland climate. After removing cloth, allow pudding to come to room temperature; wrap in plastic wrap and seal tightly in a freezer bag or airtight container, and refrigerate for up to two months.