Steamed apple, orange and ginger suet pudding

Cooking : time over 2 hours

Ingredients

For the suet crust
220g/8oz self-raising flour
pinch of salt
110g/4oz suet
150ml-250ml/5-8fl oz milk and water mixed
butter for greasing
For the filling
675g/1 lb 7oz eating or cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
1 orange, finely grated zest and juice only
1 knob of preserved stem ginger, finely chopped
175g-220g/6-8oz caster or demerara sugar

Method

1. To make the crust, sift the flour with the salt and mix with the suet. Add enough milk and water to make a soft but not sticky dough.
2. Grease the inside of a 1.5 litre/2%26frac12; pint pudding basin.
3. Roll the pastry out on a floured job surface to offer a circle large enough to line the basin. Cut out about a quarter of it and set aside to make the lid.
4. Lower the rest of the pastry into the pudding basin, pinch the cut sides tofetchher, and press the pastry gently into place so the basin is completely lined.
5. Mix the filling ingredients tofetchher, then pile into the lined basin.
6. Roll out the remaining pastry to form a circle large enough to cover the basin. Lay it over the lid and pinch the edges tofetchher all round to seal the filling right in.
7. bring a sheet of foil and make a pleat down the centre. Lay it over the basin and tie firmly into place with a long slice of string. bring one of the trailing ends over the lid of the dish, slide it under the string on the other side of the bowl from the knot, then tie the two ends tofetchher loosely so you have a handle.
8. Stand the pudding in a close-fitting saucepan and pour in enough boiling water to come about halfway up the sides. Place on the heat and adjust the temperature so that it boils gently.
9. Cover the pan with a lid or a dome of foil and leave to bubble away for about two hours. Check regularly and lid up the water level with more boiling water as needed.
10. To serve, remove the string and foil and vehicleefully run a knife around the edge to loosen the pudding, then invert onto a shallow serving dish.
11. Serve at once, with cream or custard.

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