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Figgy-dowdy

Figgy-dowdy is a traditional English recipe for a classic dessert of flour, sugar, suet and fruit mixed to a batter with rum and water that's steamed to cook and served with custard. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic English version of: Figgy-dowdy.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

120 minutes

Total Time:

140 minutes

Serves:

6

Rating:

Tags : Dessert RecipesBritish RecipesEnglish Recipes

This is a naval pudding and a distant relation of both Plum Duff and Spotted Dick. Originally it was made with ship's biscuits (hard tack), dried fruit, unrendered pork fat and rum. The original version was boiled in a cloth, but I've modernized it somewhat here. However, as always on this site, a more 'authentic' version is given in the hard tack figgy-dowdy recipe.

Ingredients:

500g plain flour
110g shredded suet
100g sugar
115g raisins
115g sultanas
1 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp mixed spice
100ml rum
150ml water

Method:

Combine the raisins and sultanas in a bowl, pour over the water and rum then set aside to soak and plump up over night.

The following day, combine the flour, suet, ginger and mixed spice in a bowl. Strain the fruit (reserve the soaking liquid) and add them to the dry ingredients. Stir thoroughly to combine then gradually work in the fruit soaking liquid until the mixture comes together as a stiff dough.

Turn the dough onto a lightly-floured work surface and roll into a fat sausage. Place in a sheet of buttered foil and crimp the top before twisting the ends to seal the pudding inside the foil parcel.

Sit this in a steamer basket and place on top of a pan of boiling water. Steam the pudding for about 120 minutes, or until cooked through. Check on the water in the pan frequently and top-up with more boiling water, as needed.

When cooked, remove the pudding from the steamer, unwrap and cut into thick slices. Serve hot, accompanied by custard.