Eggless Christmas Pudding is a festive recipe made with lots and lots of dry fruits, treacle and bread crumbs, steam cooked in a pot for hours. The flavour is mainly of the candied orange and is very dark in colour.
There is an amazing tradition involved in making the pudding. The fifth Sunday prior to Christmas, called as the stir up Sunday, every member of the household will stir up the batter of pudding and make a wish. The pudding is then reserved for five weeks before slicing on the dinner of Christmas. Small coins and trinkets were also added in the batter and whoever got the coins would have a wealthy year.
The very first time, I came across this tradition is when I read Agatha Christie’s Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. This was my very first Agatha Christie book. When I became a blogger and came across the recipe for pudding, my joy knew no bounds. I had to try this.
Because of the use of dark sugar and treacle and very long cooking and resting time, the cake comes out very dark in colour and full of flavour.
Candied Orange Peel – The main flavour of the Christmas Pudding
Candied orange peel is the main flavouring ingredient in the pudding. The final pudding just smells amazing with that flavour. Every bite will take you to orange land. I used Bakery Bits Peels from Amazon. You can also make your own candied peel, if you feel adventurous.
Another spice you need to add is ginger. It adds a little bit of heat to the otherwise sweet pudding. You chttps://amzn.to/4ge17qYan easily source it from Amazon.
You also need fresh bread crumbs for the recipe. Buy fresh bread or bake a loaf, remove the crust and then grind only the crumb. White bread is better than any multi flour blend as we need very soft crumbs.
For orange juice, I have used freshly squeezed juice. You can also go for store bought juice.
This pudding is steam cooked for six hours. So it needs some supervising in between. Keep checking the water level of your steamer and never let it dry out.
The pudding is cooked in a 1 litre pudding pan which is lined with buttered parchment on the bottom as well as the top. An aluminium foil is folded and used to cover the top and it is tied with a cotton thread so that it holds during the whole cooking process.
The pudding is left to sit overnight on counter with the foil wrap. This will increase the flavour of the pudding. So don’t skip it.
Removing the Christmas Pudding from the pan
Removing the pudding might be a little tricky after the overnight rest. The butter and sugar might caramelize and stick to the sides and the pudding might not leave the pan. Do not panic. Either dip the pan in hot water or use a hot air gun or hair dryer to heat the sides of the pan. The pudding will come out of the pan with ease.
Slice the pudding into 8 wedges and serve it. You can also store it in air tight box in fridge. Bring them to room temperature before serving.
Eggless Christmas Pudding
Ingredients
- 250 g Dark Brown Sugar / Jaggery Powder
- 125 g Butter
- 100 ml Curd
- 100 g Candied Orange Peel
- 300 g Mixed Dry Fruits golden raisins, apricots, cranberry, black raisins, figs, dates
- 75 g Maida
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Ground Ginger
- 60 ml Orange Juice
- 140 g Fresh Bread Crumbs
Instructions
- Beat together butter and sugar in a pan.
- Add curd and beat until incorporated.
- Add all the dry fruits and candied peels and mix well.
- Add orange juice and mix well.
- Whisk together flour and baking soda, add it to the dry fruits mix and fold everything together.
- Finally add the bread crumbs and mix until incorporated.
- Prepare a 1 litre pudding pan. Apply butter, place a parchment paper at the bottom and apply some butter on it.
- Transfer the batter into the pan.
- Place another buttered parchment paper on top of the batter.
- Now make a double fold in the centre of the foil.
- Place it on top of the pan and cover the pan and let the foil overhang on the sides.
- Use a cotton thread to secure the foil.
- Trim out excess foil.
- The centre fold is to prevent breaking of the foil when the pudding rises during cooking.
- Place the pan on a small stand inside the steamer and cover.
- The steaming will go on for six hours, so keep checking the water level and top it up if it goes down.
- Once six hours cooking is done, remove the pan from the steamer and place on a wire rack.
- Let it rest overnight.
- The next day, cut off the thread, remove the foil and parchment.
- Either dip the pan is hot water or use a hot air gun or hair dryer to heat the sides of the pan.
- Gently flip the pan on a serving plate and remove the pan and the parchment.
- Slice it up with a sharp knife and serve.
