100gvegetable suet(or solid vegetable fat like Trex, grated, or 80g salted butter)
100gbreadcrumbs
50gcornflour (cornstarch in the US)
1tspground mixed spice
⅛tsp(a good pinch) ground cinnamon
pinchof freshly grated nutmeg
60gchopped, candied mixed peel(shop bought, the kind used in cakes & panettone)
60gtoasted almond flakes
1medium cooking appleunpeeled, chopped
grated zest of 2 lemons
125mlapple juice (from a carton)
Instructions
Soak the raisins and sultanas
This wants to be done at least 3 hours before. Make the tea with the tea leaves and boiling water. Leave to brew for 4 minutes.
Place the raisins and sultanas in a bowl.
Strain the brewed tea over the dried fruit and mix well. Leave to soak for at least 1 hour. If you have time, do it for 3, or just leave it overnight. Be sure to stir everything a handful of times to ensure that all the fruit get soaked.
At the end of the soaking time, if there's any tea left, drain the fruit and leave aside.
Preparing the pudding
Take a large mixing bowl and put the sugar, grated vegetable fat, breadcrumbs, cornflour and spices in and mix well.
Add the dried fruit, peel, almonds, apple and lemon zest. Again, mix thoroughly.
Pour in the apple juice and give it a good stir.
Give it all a good mix. Get the kids to give it a stir and make a wish (silently!). It should be a fairly sloppy mixture.
Cooking the Christmas Pudding
Put the mixture into the greased pudding basin/s, packing it in.
Cover with 2 layers of foil. Tie tightly with a string, as in the picture.
Steam over simmering water for 6 hours for a big pudding, 2 1/2 hours for any small ones. Don’t let the water go dry, be sure to keep topping up.
If you don’t have a steamer, use a saucepan with an inverted saucer, place the pudding on the saucer and fill it up with boiling water halfway up the pudding basin. Cover with a lid and let the water simmer away.
When done, let the pudding cool down completely (usually next day) and replace the foil with fresh.
If not serving immediately, store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
On Christmas day, steam the bigger pudding for 2 hours and the mini ones for 1. Or just do this in the microwave (about 2 minutes for the big one, 1 for the small).
Serve with your favourite sauce – brandy butter, ice cream, fresh cream or my personal favourite, homemade custard!