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As my first contribution to the Helm Family Cookbook, proposed by my brother Mike, I post the recipe below.
It is not your classic school dinner pudding, stodgy steamed suet, but rather a lighter spongy lemony version. Different.
One day soon I'll do the 'original'.
There is of course a website: http://spotteddick.net/
And a Wikipedia entry
Heinz do a tinned version (which isn't bad at all!)
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Serves 6 (or 8 who will be wishing for more)
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175 g butter, softened, plus a little extra for greasing the basin
175 g caster sugar
1 lemon, grated zest, and juice.
1 orange, grated zest
3 eggs, beaten
200 g self-raising flour
50 cc milk
80 g sultanas and/or currants (for adults - soak them overnight in calvados or some such spirit)
Procedure
1. Grease a 1.2 litre pudding basin with butter.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Add the lemon and orange zest, followed by the lemon juice, and whisk in the beaten egg, a little at a time.
4. Sift in the flour and gently whisk the mixture together.
5. Add just enough milk for the mixture to drop easily from a spoon.
6. Fold in the sultanas and currants.
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pudding basin and firstly cover with a disc of greaseproof paper, then with a piece of foil, tied under the rim of the basin with string.
8. To steam the pudding, place a small saucer into the base of a large pan. Place the basin onto the saucer and fill the pan with boiling water two-thirds up the side of the basin.
9. Cover and steam for 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours. Continue to top up the water to the two-thirds mark, as the water will evaporate. Take care not let the water dry out.