Mark Seymour, from England, shows how to make spotted Dick, a classic English steamed pudding with raisins.
He remembers eating steamed puddings like this at his grandparents' place when he was a child. They would make a big one to feed 10 people and it would take three hours to cook.
It's a classic old-fashioned British pudding that supplied calories directly to the body in the days before central heating - this makes it ideal for Otago, where central heating has yet to arrive, he says.
You need a pudding basin with a close-fitting lid or greaseproof paper and string to make a lid, and a large pot into which the basin will fit.
Spotted dick
Serves 4-6
150g self-raising flour or plain flour and 2 tsp baking powder
75g caster sugar
225 dried fruit such as currants or sultanas
grated rind of one lemon
75g hard or frozen butter (or beef or vegetable suet)
2 small or 1 large egg, lightly beaten
pinch salt
8-10 Tbsp milk
golden syrup (about 1-2 Tbsp)
Method
Put a large pot on the stove with about 7cm water in it and bring to the boil.
Grease the pudding basin well with butter, then sprinkle flour in it and shake and tip the bowl until it is lined with flour as well as butter. This will ensure the pudding will turn out easily.
Spoon in a large dollop of golden syrup to cover the base of the pudding basin.
Put the flour (and baking powder, if using) into a large bowl. Add the caster sugar, the grated rind of a lemon and the fruit, which should be well drained if you have plumped it by soaking or simmering.
Grate the frozen butter on the fine holes of the grater into the flour mixture and stir in, being careful not to let the butter clump.
Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk lightly with a fork to break up. Stir into the flour and fruit mixture with enough milk to make a thickish batter.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pudding basin, put on the lid and put it into the pot of boiling water. The water should come halfway up the sides of the basin.
When it comes back to the boil, turn the heat down so it rattles gently. It will take 1 hours to cook, but it won't be spoilt if you cook it for two, as it won't dry out. Check the water level every half hour or so and top up with boiling water if needed.
When the pudding is done, protect your hands from the steam and take the pudding basin from the pot. Remove the lid and use a spatula to ease the pudding away from the sides of the bowl. Place a plate over the bowl and turn the pudding out. Some of the syrup may remain in the basin - scrape it out on to the top of the pudding.
Serve the pudding hot, cut into wedges, with custard, cream or ice cream and perhaps an extra teaspoonful of golden syrup.
Tips
• Mark prefers to use Lyle's golden syrup, which has a particular flavour he associates with the puddings he ate as a child. Other brands will work but have a different taste. He remembers Lyle and Tate (as it was when he was a child in the 1960s) being advertised as ''untouched by human hands''.
• If you heat the spoon in boiling water before spooning the syrup, it will fall off easily, but there won't be any left on the spoon to lick!
• Currants were traditionally used, but a mix of sultanas, raisins and candied peel will work well.
• If your dried fruit is hard and clumpy, put it in a pot with a little water, and bring to a simmer. Turn it off and let it soak until it plumps up and becomes unstuck. Drain well before using. This may affect the amount of milk needed in the batter.
• Suet (beef fat) would have traditionally been used in puddings. To simulate the suet texture, he grates the butter. This is easier if you have frozen it first. You can also use this method to make scones - it saves rubbing the butter into the flour, he says.
• Thanks to Afife Harris and Centre City New World.
