Topic: 3 hour Plum Pudding

[livo]

Due to supermarket chain product deletion tactics I have been unable to purchase a family favourite tinned plum pudding lately. I've always been unprepared to go to the trouble of the week long process of soaking fruit, mixing, boiling and hanging a pudding like my mother in law does every year for Christmas. Yesterday I thought of the pressure cooker and so, after a bit of googling around I'd come up with 3 sites that explained different methods but it was enough to ensure me that it was probably possible, so I set about looking at different recipes for ingredients and quantities.  I then adapted all of this to come up with my first attempt and it is an immediate winner.

This is a very basic pudding and if any of you are pudding experts you will be able to adapt this to your own tastes by using additional ingredients or substitution. 
For example:
I used no alcohol so Brandy or Sherry can be substituted for the Orange Juice. Interestingly, I found that cold strong tea is sometimes used in plum pudding.
Suet or dripping can be used instead of butter and vegetable fat.
I don't like peel but you can add it with the mixed fruit. Cherry and chopped nuts could be added as well.
Of course you can do the traditional soaking technique after it is cooked as well.

This procedure was so simple and the preparation time was about 10 - 15 minutes followed by 2 - 2.5 hours of the pressure cooking doing it's thing.  The result was a delicious and moist plum pudding as good as anything I've ever eaten.  This produced a 1kg pudding approximately, or enough for about 8 servings or 10 if you are prepared to stretch it.  Sorry I didn't get a picture as it didn't last.

Pressure cooker Plum Pudding   
1 Greased or sprayed 1 litre pudding bowl.
(Cut a small circle of greaseproof paper to fit over flat bottom)
Ingredients
500g Fruit (sultanas, raisins, currents, chopped dates)