Garam masala Christmas pudding recipe

Vivek Singh, executive chef and CEO of The Cinnamon Collection has combined British festive tradition with Indian warmth and vibrancy to create this garam masala Christmas pudding. With spiced, rum-soaked fruits, nuts and citrus peel, it’s a rich, dark, celebratory treat, and makes the perfect Christmas centrepiece.

Ingredients (makes two puddings):

• 100g seedless raisins
• 100g dried apricots, chopped (to about the same size as the raisins)
• 100g dried figs, chopped (to about the same size as the raisins)
• 100g dried black currants
• 100g sultanas
• 75g candied lemon and orange peel, finely chopped
• 50g almonds, finely chopped
• 50g walnuts, finely chopped
• 50g pecan nuts, finely chopped
• 50g pine nuts, finely chopped
• 50g brazil nuts, finely chopped
• 50g cashew nuts, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground garam masala
• ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 150ml dark rum
• 4 tbsp brandy
• 1 orange, zest and juice
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 225g salted butter
• 225g muscovado sugar
• 3 free-range eggs
• 150g plain flour
• extra butter, for greasing pudding bowls
• custard and nutmeg, to serve

Method

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• Place all the dry fruits, nuts and spices into a large bowl and mix together thoroughly.
• Add the rum, brandy, lemon juice and orange juice, and mix together well with your hands. Cover and leave overnight to soak in the flavours (ideally, you would macerate the fruit and nuts for at least a month, but overnight will do).
• Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue mixing until all the eggs are incorporated into the mixture.
• Fold in the flour and the soaked fruits and nuts.
• Grease 2 1.5 litre/2.5 pint heatproof pudding bowls. Then fill each almost to the rim with the mixture. Smooth down the top surfaces.
• Cover each bowl with a large sheet of greaseproof paper, then a large sheet of aluminium foil. Tie the two sheets tightly into place under the rim with string, leaving long ends of excess string. Loop one of the excess string lengths over the pudding basin and slide underneath the taut string holding the sheets in place on the other side. Bring up the string and firmly knot with the other piece of excess string, to form a secure handle for lifting the pudding up.
• To cook, stand the puddings on separate trivets in a large, deep, heavy-based pan (or use a separate pan for each pudding). Pour boiling water into the pan(s), so that it comes about halfway up the sides of the bowls.
• Cover the pan(s) with a lid or a dome of foil, and boil for 7 hours. Check the water level regularly, topping it up with more boiling water, as necessary, to keep the bowls half-submerged.
• After 7 hours, remove the bowls from the pan and leave to cool. Untie and remove the foil and greaseproof sheets and replace with clean, dry sheets of both greaseproof paper and foil.
• Store in a cool, dry place. To reheat and serve, return to a pan containing a few inches of boiling water, cover and steam for 2 hours, checking the water levels now and then, until completely heated through. Serve with warm custard, flavoured with hint of nutmeg.

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