Scottish Vegetable & Meat Pudding

Serves	4 to 6
Prep time	15 minutes
Cook time	3 hours
Total time	3 hours, 15 minutes
Allergy	Wheat
Meal type	Lunch, Main Dish
Misc	Child Friendly, Serve Hot
Region	British
By author	Karen S Burns-Booth

A delicious meat and vegetable steamed pudding that would have been popular as a family meal during the war; the meat is padded out with tasty seasonal root vegetables and the suet crust is made from a combination of flour and oatmeal, for a nutty taste and texture. Serve with gravy and steamed seasonal vegetables.

Ingredients

Pastry

7ozs (200g) plain flour
3ozs (75g) oatmeal, such as pinhead medium oatmeal
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
salt and pepper
2 to 3ozs (50 to 75g) grated suet (I used vegetable suet)
water, to bind

Filling

8ozs (225g) strewing steak
120zs (300g) mixed prepared vegetables such as carrots, swede, potatoes, turnip, leeks, onions and celery (I used a bag of Scotty Brand prepared Casserole Vegetables)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Note

Directions

Step 1	Pastry: Mix the flour, oatmeal, baking powder, salt, pepper and suet together and then add enough cold water to make a dough with a soft rolling consistency.
Step 2	Roll the dough out on a floured board and use three-quarters to line a 2 pint (1200ml) pudding basin.
Step 3	Dice the meat finely and mix with the prepared vegetables. Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of water to the filling mixture and season well. Spoon the filling into the pastry lined pudding basin and then roll out the remaining dough to form a lid.
Step 4	Moisten the edges of the edges of the pastry lid and put into position on top of the pie, crimping the pastry together around the edges to form a tight seal.
Step 5	Cover with margarine paper or greased baking parchment, and add a lid if using a plastic steamer. Place in a steamer and steam for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, making sure the water is topped up regularly with boiling water.