
Retro Recipe Revival: Clootie Dumpling
It’s time for another one from the archives, this time from a recipe book that accompanied the Tower Pressure Cooker sold throughout the early to mid-90s. This week’s Retro-Recipe Revival sees us embracing our Caledonian side and bringing you a dish traditionally cooked in an old pillowcase (seriously) in the form of Clootie Dumpling.Recommended appliance
Tower 6 Litre Stainless Steel One-Touch Pressure Cooker Total time to table: 1 hour 45 minutes Total Cost Per Serving: £1.29 Contains Nuts? No Suitable for Vegetarians? No Serves: 8Ingredients
- 225g plain flour (plus 50g for sprinkling)
- x 1 tspn bicarbonate of soda
- x 1 tspn mixed spice
- 50g Muscatel raisins
- x 1tspn ground cinnamon
- x 1 tspn ground ginger
- ¼ tspn sea salt
- 175g caster sugar (plus x 1 tspn for sprinkling)
- 100g shredded vegetarian suet
- 100g sultanas
- 85g stoned dates (chopped)
- x 1 apple or carrot (coarsely grated)
- x 1 tbspn black treacle
- x 1 egg
- 150ml buttermilk
- 225g whipped cream (flavoured with x 2 tbspns whiskey)
- Custard to serve (optional)

Preparation
- Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, spices and salt into a bowl and stir in the sugar, suet, dried fruit, as well as whichever you have chosen from the apple and the carrot.
- Mix the black treacle with the egg and buttermilk and then mix into the dry ingredients to produce a soft mixture with a cake-like dropping consistency. The Tower 300W Stainless Steel Hand Mixer will help you out no end here.
- Next, dip a large piece of muslin, an old, clean pillowcase, a pudding cloth, or a tea-towel, into boiling water and then squeeze out any excess. Lay it out on a clean surface and sprinkle a 30cm circle of flour (50g) and a tablespoon of caster sugar.
- Carefully spoon the dumpling mixture on top and then bring the opposite corner of the cloth together over the top, bunching the material together so that the pudding forms a ball shape.
- Tie off securely with string, making sure you leave little room for the pudding to expand.
- Place a trivet in your pressure cooker, place the pudding on the trivet knotted side up and the cover with water.
- Replace the lid on the pressure cooker and bring the water to the boil, allowing it to reach full pressure. Set a timer for 1 hour 30 minutes (the Tower 6 Litre Stainless Steel One-Touch Pressure Cooker comes in especially hand here as the removable timer means you can get on with your day whilst the dumpling is cooking).
- When the cooking time has elapsed, cool the pressure cooker slowly and release the pressure using the ‘natural release method’. Then, pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
- Once the pudding has cooled, remove from the water, undo the parcel, and invert onto oven-proof bakeware. Place in the oven and leave to cook for around 15 minutes until the outside of the pudding has dried off.
Serving
- Cut into chunky wedges and place on serving plate, topped with the whisky flavoured whipped cream. Alternatively, drizzle with hot custard for a warming pick-up during the winter months.
6 May 2015
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