With the change of plans for Christmas it meant 'proper Christmas' meals needed on two different days instead of just one day.
This half packet of vegetable suet (bought last winter for dumplings but still OK) had to be moved or fell out of the cupboard
every time I got anything else out and gave me an idea. .................................BiL is traditional and likes Christmas Pudding, I don't particularly, but could eat some but not the huge rather solid recipe I've used through umpteen years of Christmas Pudding making. I looked in several books for a pudding recipe that uses as little as possible, didn't need making weeks beforehand and could be made with just 2½oz of suet and then had a brainwave to look in the Wartime books - when rations limited the amount and range of things that could be used - and found something in this book.
The list of ingredients were simply breadcrumbs, flour, a little suet, minimal sugar, grated carrot and apple, sultanas and raisons and a few prunes plus just 1 egg and and optional alcohol. Most of these are in the house all the time and I separated the raisons from a packet of the value range Aldi peanuts and raisons (peanuts used for biscuits) I bought some prunes which I like but hadn't eaten for ages, so the remainder will be good.
Even with a small amount it was enough for 1 small basin and another even smaller, which I made and steamed yesterday.
Now the question is - do I leave until Boxing Day to re-steam and force BiL to try it or shall I reheat the very small one and try it myself today, just in case?
Back Tomorrow
Sue
Carrot seems to be a featured ingredient in many a war time recipes. Wasn't it used in mock apricot jam?
ReplyDeleteYes it was. Also, if people could get banana essence, they could mix it into mashed parsnips to make"mock banana" for use in sandwiches or puddings. I went to hear marguerite patten give a talk about wartime cooking once. I applaud Sue's resourcefulness (esp the nuts and raisins trick)
DeleteCarrot is probably for a bit of extra sweetness and bulk and for seeing in the dark if you were a pilot!! - that was what the propaganda of the time told the people!
DeleteI think a little taste-test wouldn't go amiss. What a clever idea to look up a Wartime recipe. When mum was alive and still able to eat it, I used to make Christmas Pud every year, and a Christmas cake (not iced though). Now I'd be the only one eating either . . . How did I manage to have grown children fussy about dried fruit?!
ReplyDeleteI hope it's OK. I'm glad to get the 2 and a half ounces of vegetable suet used up - it was 'only' a month after its BBE date!
DeleteNow I expect I'll have a fancy for stew and dumplings and need to buy more :-)
Dumplings.... oh yes! Now I'm hankering for some herby dumplings!
ReplyDelete