Leek Pudding

This wonderful recipe was given to me by a customer who came to the store to buy some of the ingredients. It is a traditional Geordie recipe from the northeast of England. I misspent a few years of my youth in that region and became familiar with the popularity of leeks in that part of Britain. Leek pudding is not a difficult dish to make but, like a lot of steamed products, it does require a fairly lengthy cooking time. Here is how I made mine.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch of leeks (about three or four pieces)
• 1 cup Atora Light Vegetable Suet
• 2 cups flour

Preparation

• Chop the leeks into small pieces and steam until tender
• Rub the suet thoroughly into the flour
• Slowly add water and mix until the dough binds into a ball
• Roll the dough on a floured board into rectangles
• Spoon steamed leeks into the centre of the rolled pastry then fold the edges over to make a rectangular shape
• Firmly press the edges of the pastry to seal the pudding
• Wrap the puddings securely in aluminum foil and steam for one and a half hours
• Serve with cooked ground beef in Oxo gravy

John's Notes
My first impression of this meal, when I saw it on my plate, was how unusual it was that the vegetable should be inside the pudding while the meat was outside. However, the flavour and texture of the meal was superb. I will be making this one again soon.

PS: I don't own a steamer but I improvized. I have a large metal strainer that sits snugly inside the top of a large stock pot. I boiled water in the stock pot and placed the puddings (wrapped in foil) in the strainer. The lid of the stockpot sits neatly on the rim of the strainer. Perfect results every time!

I used the same apparatus for steaming the leeks. The water in the stock pot caught the juice from the leeks which can be reduced and used as a vegetable stock for soups.

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