Now, this is a true, british dish. A hilariously stupid name, meat product in a sweet dish, hearty and covered in custard. Couldn’t be more british if it tried. It’s also old, as the first reference to a spotted dick recipe has been found from 1850! It’s also super tasty.

It’s essentially a suet pudding dotted with currants (I use half currants, half chocolate chips!), which is steamed in a pudding bowl, hence the shape. You then merely slice and serve with some steaming hot custard.

Served 6 – From James Martin

  • 300g/10oz plain flour
  • 10g/2 tsp baking powder
  • 150g/5oz shredded suet
  • 75g/3oz caster sugar
  • 110g/4oz currants
  • 1 lemon, zest only
  • 200ml/7fl oz milk
  • butter, for greasing
  • lashings of hot custard
  1. For the spotted dick, place the flour, baking powder, shredded suet, caster sugar, currants and lemon zest into a bowl and mix to combine.
  2. Add the milk and stir to make a soft dough.
  3. Grease a pudding basin with butter and spoon the mixture into the basin. Cover with a piece of folded greaseproof paper.
  4. Tie around the edge with string to secure the paper and place a damp tea towel over the top. Tie once more with string to secure the tea towel.
  5. Place the basin into a large lidded saucepan and fill the pan two-thirds of the way up with water.
  6. Cover with the lid, bring to a boil and simmer for one hour.
  7. To serve, slice a wedge of spotted dick for each person and place onto each of six plates. Pour over the custard and serve at once.