Recipe: Nadia's Mum's Prune Christmas Pudding

Nadia's Mum's Prune Christmas Pudding. Photo / Doug Sherring

"I asked my mum for a Christmas pudding recipe and she pulled this one out - it is from the New Zealand Woman's Weekly. Mum has cooked this pudding a few times and it is a nice, easy recipe. The original recipe uses figs, however being a prune fan, mum used prunes in hers instead.

• ¾ cup chopped dried figs or prunes
• ½ cup raisins or sultanas
• ½ cup dried currants
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• ½ cup roughly chopped blanched almonds
• 1 green apple, grated
• ¾ cup fresh breadcrumbs
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• ½ cup milk
• ¼ cup brandy
• 1 egg
• 75g melted butter

1. Grease a 1 litre pudding basin. In a bowl, mix together dried fruit, lemon zest, almonds, apple, breadcrumbs, sugar, flour, salt, cocoa and spices.

2. Whisk the milk, brandy, egg and butter together, then add to dry ingredients and mix well to combine.

3. Spoon pudding mixture into basin, cover with greased paper or baking paper, then seal well with a tight lid or some foil tied with string.

4. Place in a large saucepan with enough boiling water to come up two thirds of the way up the sides of the basin. Cover with a lid and boil for 5 hours, checking water levels regularly.

5. Remove pudding from basin while still warm but not hot. Allow to cool, wrap in cling film and refrigerate until required. To reheat, unwrap pudding and place in greased pudding bowl. Steam for 1 hour or until heated through. Serve with custard or cream.