Vegan Christmas Pudding Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What can replace suet in Christmas pudding? ›

Christmas pudding, What are the best substitutes for suet? Beef fat (from the butchers) or lard (available in supermarkets) make acceptable substitutes.

The traditional mixture is a tiny bit boozy too, as it contains three types of alcohol; beer, dark rum and brandy. However, if you want an alcohol-free Christmas pudding, the recipe recommends substituting with orange juice or cold tea instead.

To prevent water from getting into the mixture, which would make the pudding soggy, make sure you secure the foil with string and fold the foil back over the string.

The Christmas pudding coin

Adding silver coins into plum pudding is a fun Christmas tradition. The notion being that whoever finds the coin will have good luck. The tradition may date as far back as early as the 1300s when several small items like dried peas and chicken wishbones were added to the pudding mixture.

If you can't find suet or you just don't want to use it, try shortening instead. One of the advantages of using vegetable shortening is that it is suitable for vegetarian dishes. Before using it, freeze the shortening until it is very firm. Once frozen, grate on a large holed grater so you get more chunky pieces.

Food for thought

It is a mark of France's civilisation that the nation has never embraced the Christmas pudding. The French prefer a fancy log – of ice cream or sponge and chocolate.

Naturally there will be exceptions, but most people in the U.S. do not serve Christmas pudding. Instead we are likely to eat other desserts, often pies ranging from apple or pumpkin to pecan or Mincemeat.

Christmas Pudding (also known as plum pudding or figgy pudding) is a dish as famous as it is misunderstood. In America, Christmas Pudding (also known as plum pudding or figgy pudding) is a dish as famous as it is misunderstood.

The flaming brandy is said to represent the passion of Christ. Christmas puddings were traditionally boiled in a “pudding cloth”, although today are usually steamed in a bowl. Presented on the table with a sprig of holly, they are then doused in brandy and set alight.

Ideally we would suggest that when the pudding is made it is steamed for 8 hours (the combined time of the first and second steamings) as the steaming is important for the flavour of the pudding. The pudding can then be microwaved to reheat it on Christmas Day.

Why shouldn't you reheat Christmas pudding? ›

Steaming is the best way to re-heat a homemade pudding and the only way we recommend re-heating Delia's Christmas pudding. Microwaved puddings are frequently ruined. They tend to overheat and get tough & sticky.

Resist lifting the lid of the steaming pan for the first 30 minutes; like baking a cake, the drop in temperature could cause the pudding to collapse. However after this time, do check on the pudding regularly to make sure that the pan does not boil dry.

Superstitions say that Christmas pudding must be prepared with 13 ingredients, which are said to represent Jesus and his twelve disciples. It is also said that the mixture should be stirred in turn from east to west, by each family member, to honour the disciples' journey.

Finding a Christmas coin in your slice of pudding is believed to bring good luck and especially wealth in the coming year. This lovely tradition may date back as early as the 1300s when a dried pea or sometimes a small silver ring or crown was baked into a Twelfth Night Cake.

The dish is sometimes known as plum pudding (though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving dried fruit). The word "plum" was used then for what has been called a "raisin" since the 18th century, and the pudding does not in fact contain plums in the modern sense of the word.

Vegetable shortening: Vegetable shortening has a mild flavor like suet and hardens in the refrigerator, making it simple to shred and add to foods that call for shredded suet. Shortening consists of sunflower oil, palm oil, and wheat flour, which create a similar, crumbly texture to suet.

As a result, suet fat is less likely to melt into the flour when making the pastry. When the pudding is cooked, the suet melts after the pastry has had a chance to set, leaving behind holes. This structure allows the pastry to better stand up to wet fillings and gives a lighter, fluffier texture.

Vegetable suet is a solid fat made from refined vegetable oil. This vegetarian alternative to beef suet is perfectly suitable for use in mincemeat recipes. Vegetarian suet can be substituted in any recipe that calls for regular suet.

Suet is a highly vascularised and nutrient dense product. It is one of nature's richest sources of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). It is typically much firmer than body fat at room temperature. Dripping is made from subcutaneous fat deposits around the body.