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Steamed Christmas Pudding

A Canadian holiday pudding that makes a delicious centerpiece. Filled with carrots, potatoes, and spices, it becomes a tasty and not too sweet treat.
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Prep Time 30 mins
Cook Time 3 hrs
Servings 8

Equipment

  • #3 cylinder can
  • Large stock pot, with tight-fitting lid.
  • Rack for steaming (needs to fit on the bottom of the stockpot)
  • Aluminum foil
  • Box grater

Ingredients
  

For Pudding:

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1 cup currants
  • 1 cup bread crumb, finely ground
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 T buttermilk
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda, dissolved in 1 tsp cold water
  • 1 T cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 tsp allspice
  • 1 cup grated carrots
  • 1 cup grated Russet potato (peeled)
  • Non-stick spray

For Toffee Sauce:

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 T corn starch
  • 2 T butter (Shirley's recipe calls for margarine)
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions
 

  • In large bowl, combine all ingredients except grated potatoes and grated carrots. Mixture will dry and crumbly.
  • Give grated potatoes a slight squeeze to remove a bit of moisture (they will still be quite wet). Add squeezed potatoes to mixture. Add carrots. Mix thoroughly. From the moisture of the potatoes, it will start looking a bit more like a cake.
  • Put large stock pot on stove, with steaming rack in bottom. Put three inches of water in bottom of stock pot.
  • Thoroughly spray inside of #3 can with non-stick spray. Pack entire mixture into can, and pack down lightly (not too much.) Make sure there is at least two inches of clearance to the top of the can. Cover with aluminum foil.
  • Place aluminum foil covered can on top of rack in stock pot. Cover with lid, and turn on stove to medium high. Steam pudding for 3 hours, checking water level on occasion.
  • After 3 hours, remove aluminum foil and touch pudding. It should feel bouncy and fully-cooked. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then invert onto plate. Pudding should slide right out. While pudding cools, make toffee sauce.

For Toffee Sauce:

  • In a small sauce pot, whisk together brown sugar and corn starch. Add butter, water and vanilla extract. Whisk over medium low heat until thick and smooth. (Sauce will take awhile to get thick, and you will doubt that it might, in fact, ever get thick. Wendy assures me this is tradition.)
  • Serve toffee sauce while still hot over warm slice of steamed pudding.