If you’re looking for an unusual recipe that warms the cockles of the heart and comes with a lovely backstory, then plough pudding is certainly the way to go.
This traditional Norfolkian dish was a peasant dish made every year on the first Monday after welcoming in the new year, a day which is referred to as Plough Monday due to the farmers heading back to their fields.
Plough pudding is exceptionally easy to make, and honestly tastes divine!
Ingredients:
- 225g self-raising flour
- 100g vegetable suet or frozen butter, grated)
- 400g sausagemeat
- 100g diced smoked bacon
- 1 large onion, peeled and diced
- 1 teaspoon fresh sage, chopped
- Pinch of salt
Method:
- Grease a pudding basin, which can withstand being submerged in water.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, suet, and salt together. Then add enough cold water to make soft dough, but not enough to make it turn sticky.
- Place the dough onto a floured surface, and roll out. Use 2/3 of it to line the pudding basin.
- In a bowl, mix the sausage meat, bacon, sage, and onion together. As a note, while you can substitute 200g of sausagemeat for 200g skinned Maltese sausage, be wary of using only the Maltese variety due to its saltiness. Once mixed, pack it in the dough-lined pudding basin.
- Cover the top of the basin with the remaining dough and pinch the edges to seal in the filling. Then cover with a buttered grease-proof paper.
- Place in a large pot filled with water, making sure the water level does not exceed 3/4s of the bowl.
- Steam for four hours, and regularly top up the water with boiling water from a kettle.
- Serve warm with not-too-salty gravy.
This recipe was inspired by one on Lavender & Lovage.
