MEAT & POTATO PUDDING

Because you fry the meat before you steam the pudding, the
cooking time is about an hour shorter than it would be for a
traditional steak and kidney pudding; around 2 hours as opposed
to 3 hours plus.
Minced beef is sold in similar sized packs practically
everywhere although the weight varies between 400 g–500 g
(about 1 lb) from one supermarket to another. A 400 g pack with
roughly the same amount of potatoes is perfect for a standard size
11⁄2–2 pint (750 ml–1 litre) pudding basin so if you’re using one
of the bigger packets of meat reduce the quantity of potatoes
accordingly.
For the pastry
1⁄2 lb (225 g) self-raising flour
4 oz (100 g) suet
6 fl oz (175 ml) cold water (approx)
For the pudding
Approximately 1 lb (400 g–500 g) minced beef
1 lb (400 g–500 g) potatoes (approx)
1 onion
1 beef stock cube
1 tbsp tomato purée
2 tsp garlic purée
1 tbsp mustard
1⁄2 cup of cold water
Method
1. Peel the potatoes; rinse in cold water and cut into large cubes
then put the potatoes straight into a saucepan of boiling water
and simmer gently for a very few minutes before removing
from the heat and rinsing in cold water again.
2. Dry fry the minced beef and add the chopped onion, breaking
up the meat occasionally with a wooden spoon. Once the meat
has browned, strain as much of the fat out of the pan as you can.
3. Put the beef stock cube, tomato purée, garlic purée, mustard
and water into the pan with the meat and cook for a couple
more minutes before adding the potatoes and removing the
pan from the heat.
4. Make the pastry by sifting the flour into a large mixing bowl
with the suet then making a well in the centre and gradually
adding the water to make a soft but still fairly stiff dough.
5. Roll the dough out on a floured surface to make a big enough
circle to fill the pudding basin, with at least an inch (2.5 cm)
overlapping, then cut out one quarter of the pastry circle to
make the lid.
6. Line the pudding basin with the large piece of pastry, pressing
it down to the bottom of the basin and sealing the join with
your fingers.
7. Fill the pudding with the meat mixture, then put the pastry
lid on and trim the overlap, leaving just enough to fold inwards
over the lid and seal the pudding. (Make it stick by painting a
little water along the edge of the pudding with your fingers
first.)
8. Cover the pudding with a double layer of greaseproof paper
and one layer of foil with a pleat in the middle to allow the
pudding to expand.
9. Steam the pudding in a large saucepan with a lid on for about
2 hours, checking the water level in the saucepan every so often
to see that it doesn’t boil dry.
10. Spoon the pudding straight from the basin, or hold an oven
tray firmly over the top and tip the basin upside down so the
pudding slides out slowly. Make extra gravy if you think the
pudding is too dry and serve with mixed vegetables or baked
beans.
Tip
If you have limited cupboard space and don’t want to
store too much flour, just buy plain and add a couple of
teaspoons of baking powder to make self-raising. The
ratio is approximate and varies from one source to
another, so I use 1 rounded tsp with smaller amounts of
flour – less than 1⁄2 lb (225 g) – a generous 11⁄2 tsp per
1⁄2 lb (225 g) and 2 heaped tsp for larger quantities,
including anything up to and slightly above 1 lb (450 g).