Clootie Dumpling

Got these recipes from Dad yesterday, both recipes are my Mum's, one is traditional, the other is a microwave recipe. Can vouch for the tastiness of both methods, as she now uses vegetarian suet always, so that I can have some. However normal suet is just as fine, so long as you are not feeding vegetarians!

Traditional Clootie Dumpling

You will need large pot with lid, stockpan or the largest kind of saucepan with lid. Good sized tea-towel, large piece of cotton - always used to be a white pillowcase with my Gran & Mum. Whatever you use, this has to be scalded in boiling water and then floured, just prior to putting ingredients in. Also string for tying up cloth (clout - hence the name clootie dumpling). Tongs or other implements for removing cloth.
Plenty of hot boiling water.

Ingreds.
12 oz self raising flour
6 oz shredded suet
4 oz currants
4 oz sultanas
4 oz raisins
1 small cooking apple, peeled, cored and grated
1 rounded tsp cinnamon,
1 rounded tsp ground ginger
1 rounded tsp mixed spice
5 oz soft brown sugar
1 level tsp bicarb of soda
1 level tsp cream of tartar
1 egg
2 tblsp treacle
1/4 pint milk

Mix flour, suet, dried fruit, apple, spices, sugar, bicarb of soda & cream of tartar together. In separate bowl, mix egg and treacle together. Add this to flour mixture, adding just enough milk to make a soft scone-like dough.
Dip cloth/pillowcase into hot pan of water, use tongs to remove. Sprinkle flour over cloth, or inside pillowcase. Turn mixture into scalded cloth/pillowcase, leave a little room for mixture to expand, then tie tightly with string.
Boil in pan of boiling water for 3 hours with lid on. You will need to add extra boiling water periodically, make sure that whole dumpling is covered with water, all the time. Take out of pot, remove cloth - it will be very hot, so be careful. Put dumpling on tray & place on moderate oven 350F for 10 mins. Remove from oven and place on wire rack until cool.

Microwave Version

You will need cling film and microwavable dish

1/2 pint water
3/4 mug white sugar
2 eggs beaten
1/2 lb plain flour
1 desertspoon mixed spice
1 desertspoon cinnamon
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1/2 lb marg
1/2 lb mixed dried fruit
1/2 lb sultanas
1 tblsp treacle

Method
Put water, sugar, mixed spice, cinnamon, fruit, treacle and marg into a pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 1 min.
Remove from the heat.
Add the flour, bicarb of soda and eggs - mix well.
Line dish with cling film - allow cling film to go well over the sides of the dish.
Pour mixture into dish.
Do not cover the mixture.
Cook for 9 mins on high.
Allow to stand until cool.

Clootie dumping is a traditional Scottish dish, and not to be confused with other dumpling recipes. It has a "skin", which is meant to be eaten. Personally, can't bear it myself, but find myself alone in that one!
Tradionally made at Christmas time, but we kids always insisted on one at birthdays too - as well as birthday cake. There are a few of us, birthdays spread out over the year, so must have been a lot of hard work for Mum making the dumpling and doing the cake, making special birthday tea, and doing the normal everyday stuff too. In our house, from what I can remember, and at my Gran's - dumpling cooked in white pillowcase - think pillowcase was used only for dumplings, as would probably be stained after first use, so just kept for that purpose.

It can be served in slices as a cake/teabread kind of thing. Heard some people put butter on it, but never found the need.
Heated and served with custard, or with a bit of brandy cream/rum butter or great wallop of cream.
Or, ultimate in high cholesterol, is fried in slices and served with sausage, bacon, egg, black pudding etc. - I think potato scones also served, or fried bread. Never done this myself, but do remember getting it as a treat when I was a child - seriously scrummy. Anyway, would be fine grilled I think, just like those slices of fruit pudding you get for breakfasts.

Never cooked either recipes myself, but was thinking of doing for Christmas.
Anyway, hope this is of some use to someone.