Vegan Clootie Dumpling

Clootie dumpling is a Scottish boiled fruitcake traditionally eaten around New Year. The clootie is the cloth in which the dumpling is wrapped, and it’s what makes a clootie dumpling special because it creates a skin that firms up and holds the moisture inside.

Many conventional recipes contain eggs, and they pretty much all contain beef suet. This vegan clootie dumpling is made with coconut oil, olive oil and ground flaxseed. Vegan suet is available in the shops, and would make this recipe even easier than it already is, but it’s made almost entirely of palm fat, so I decided to improvise – this mixture works really well.

This is not the most elegant of desserts. In fact, it can look unsettlingly like that other boiled speciality, the haggis, before it’s sliced, but it is delicious and the skin has a distinctive chewy quality that develops as it dries out. It can be eaten anytime as a fruitcake, or as a pudding with ice cream or custard. In fact, clootie dumpling is a good alternative Christmas pudding for those who want something traditional that’s a bit less rich and sweet than the usual Christmas pudding.

If you want to be really traditional, and have a large stock pot, double the quantities. The quantities here will serve eight people easily as a pudding. If you’re planning to store it, be sure to dry it out in the oven until the skin is firm and wrap it well. I left the skin a bit softer on the pictured dumpling because it was for eating within a couple of days.

Vegan clootie dumpling…

Ingredients

• 230 g white/unbleached self-raising flour, plus some plain flour for dusting
• 100 g raisins
• 100 g sultanas
• 60 g coconut oil
• 30 g light olive oil
• 15 g finely ground flaxseed
• 110 g white sugar
• 40 g blackstrap molasses (treacle will do)
• 100 ml oat or other non-dairy milk
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp salt

Method

1. You will need a large lidded saucepan and either a muslin pudding cloth or a large square (at least 16″) of plain cotton that you have washed in boiling water (t-shirt fabric or sheeting would be fine), and some suitable (non-toxic) string or strong thread to tie the top of the cloth. If you have a collapsible steamer basket, you can use that; otherwise you will also need a small heatproof plate/saucer to place in the bottom of the pan to keep the dumpling slightly elevated.
2. Fill the pan with water and turn the heat on before you start mixing ingredients, so that the water is simmering when you are ready to submerge the dumpling. You will need the water to come nearly to the top of the dumpling but it doesn’t need to cover it.
3. Melt the coconut oil in the microwave, then whisk it together with the olive oil, oat milk and molasses. Little granules of coconut oil might form but this doesn’t matter.
4. Place the flour in a large bowl with the sugar, ground flaxseed, spices and salt and whisk to mix everything together thoroughly.
5. Add the sultanas and raisins to the flour and mix to distribute them evenly.
6. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to create a fairly sticky dough. Add another tablespoon of oat milk if it is unworkable.
7. Prepare the cloth by rinsing in hot water and wringing it then laying it on a flat surface. Dust it liberally with plain flour – two or three tablespoons. This will help to form the skin.
8. Turn the dough onto a floured board and knead/turn it just a few times to bring it into a ball shape.
9. Place the dough in the centre of the floured cloth and bring up the corners. Tie it at the top with string, leaving room for the dumpling to expand.
10. Once the water is simmering, lower the dumpling into the pan so that it rests on the saucer or steamer basket. Place the lid on the pan.
11. Simmer gently for three hours, then carefully remove the dumpling from the pan and immediately submerge it in cold water for a minute. This will help to prevent the skin from sticking to the cloth.
12. Place the dumpling on a large plate and gently peel the cloth off the top side, then turn it onto an oven tray and peel off the remaining cloth.
13. Transfer the dumpling to a moderate oven and bake until the skin is dry. This might take around half an hour at 160°C.
14. Slice and serve warm or cold.

If you would like to receive e-mail alerts when new recipes are published, please see my contact page.