Nana was a foodie. My grandmother was reputed among her relatives and friends for being an excellent cook. When it came to Christmas cake, no one could beat her, and she was extremely proud of the fact. I take pride that I follow her love for the culinary arts, though like her, never formally trained, learned by experimentations in the kitchen. One of her, possibly early, experiments was Pastry Pudding or as it is known by some members of our family as Beefsteak pudding. The closest dish to this is a traditional English recipe for beefsteak or steak and kidney suet pudding. Most recipes I found online involve a pudding basin and a pastry made with suet, though I suspect the basin is a more modern approach. I did find one video online that describes an 18th century recipe where a cloth is used to wrap the suet dough with it’s filling and then immersed in water and boiled, much like the way my grandmother made her pastry pudding. I am unsure if my grandmother’s recipe at any time contained suet, but the recipe I’ve seen followed growing up, did not. it did contain egg and margarine, which I have come to omit. I prefer to follow a recipe more akin to that of the Chinese dumpling wrapper – just flour, salt, and water.
Ingredients for 1 small pastry pudding
Stew
- 300g beef steak cut into 1 inch cubes
- 2 medium sized potatoes cut into cubes
- 1 carrot cut into cubes
- 5 green beans stringed and cut into short lengths
- 1 stalk celery sliced
- 8-10 shallots peeled and whole
- 1 medium onion peeled and quartered
- 4-5 cloves garlic peeled and whole
- 1 medium tomato chopped
- Water as needed
- 1tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1tsp vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Oil for browning beef
- 1-2 tsp corn flour dissolved in a little water
- 2 hard boiled eggs (optional)
Pastry
- 2 cups flour
- ¾ cup + 2tbsp water (room temperature)
- ¾ tsp salt
Method
Stew
Heat oil in a heavy bottom frying pan and brown the beef in small batches. Do not crowd the pan. transfer the browned beef into a pot containing the vegetables. In the same pan fry the onions and garlic and add it to the pot with the beef and vegetables. Add enough (but not too much) water to cover the contents. Add salt and pepper, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil and simmer covered till the beef is tender and the vegetables are cooked. There should be some liquid in the pot when done, if not you may add water. Stir the corn flour-water mix and add it to the stew a little at a time and stir well. Cook till the stew is well thickened. Turn off heat and adjust seasoning. Let the stew cool down. If using, add the boiled eggs whole or halved. You will need about 2 cups of the stew.
Pastry
Mix the salt into the flour add ¾ cup water gradually while mixing. Form a somewhat smooth ball. You may need more water depending on flour used. If needed, add about a tablespoon of water at a time. Rest the dough for about 15 minutes. Kneed the dough till you get a very smooth ball and rest for a further 30 minutes.
Making the pudding
While the dough is resting a second time, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Roll out the pastry to about 1cm thick circle about 12 inches in diameter. Place the stew (about 2 cups) in the middle and carefully pull up the sides and seal the stew inside the pastry. Place the ball you just created in the middle of a cloth about 50cmx50cm in size. Pull up the two opposite corners along each diagonal and tie the cloth tightly as possible around ball. If you find this too unwieldy, place the cloth inside a suitable sized bowl, then place the pastry and then the stew. This will make filling in the stew, sealing the pastry, and tying the cloth little bit easier. Gently immerse the wrapped ball into boiling water. Cook for about an hour. Turn the ball over halfway during the cooking. Replenish the liquid in the pot with boiling water, if needed. After cooking is complete, carefully lift the ball out using tongs or forks. When its cool enough to handle, untie the cloth and lift the pastry ball on to a serving dish. Cut and serve with ketchup if desired.
