What do you think of when you see this?
I bet it's not gorgeous fluffy dumplings is it?
Suet is a very old-fashioned fat that has rather gone out of vogue in today's low fat, low cholesterol, low carb society. Fortunately no one in my family suffers from high cholesterol so I am not afraid!
I remember riding my bike to the butchers to buy suet so my dad could make us these when I was little, and wondering what he'd do with it. Most butchers who break down their own meat should have it available.
This time the suet didn't actually cost me anything, when I asked my friendly market butcher for some he happily gave me an enormous amount for free. He said that pig and chicken fat were quite valuable, but not beef. Beef suet is a lovely creamy colour that sort of 'flakes' as you pull it apart. It doesn't smell, or have any blood, and usually comes from around the kidneys of the animal. It certainly doesn't add any beefiness to the dumplings, but when you use it in pastry it gives a lovely crisp shell that is quite firm and can be used beautifully for pies.
Anyway, I only needed 100grms, so my doggie happily gobbled the rest. I considered freezing it, but had a vision of someone pulling out a frozen lump of fat and trying to defrost for dinner before realising what it was. So I didn't.
Dumplings
100 grms of suet- yes you could use butter if you must :)
200 grms of SR gfree flour
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
lemon zest
100 ml water
1 egg
Good pinch of salt
Sauce
1/2 cup golden syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 cups water
1/2 butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Finely grate the suet. I used a microplane to give lovely thin shavings- the smaller the better.
Mix the flour, sugar, zest and salt into the suet and rub together well.
Add the egg and most of the water- you may need a little more or less as gfree flours can absorb more than 'normal' flours, and mix together to clump.
Turn out and knead lightly. You're after a nice smooth dough that's not sticky or dry. It should be elastic and pliable.
Split the dough in half, then cut into 8 pieces each, they should be about the size of a whole walnut. Don't make them too big or they won't cook through and be gluggy.
Carefully add the little dumplings, let the sauce come back up to boil then put on the lid and turn the temperature down so they just simmer away.
Simmer for 10 minutes, then lift the lid and turn them over. Pop the lid back on and simmer for 10 more minutes.
Check one of the dumplings, they should be dry and fluffy inside. If they're still doughy let them cook a bit longer. Don't let them boil away too long though or they'll start to break down and absorb too much of the sauce.
Pull the dumplings out and serve them hot drizzled with sauce and a scoop of lactose free vanilla ice cream or cream.
If you like you can quickly reduce the sauce by boiling it vigorously for a few minutes and it will become thicker- but be careful as it'll get sweeter too.
These were really yummy, but boy o boy they were sweet! I reduced my sauce and I wish I hadn't. Even my dessert expert littlej couldn't finish her sauce and we really needed that icecream to cut through it all. Don't say I didn't warn you!
So my Readers Dear, have you ever cooked with suet before, or does the idea of it put you off?
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