The Hebridean Baker: Aunt Bellag’s Duff

My Aunt Bellag is my father’s older sister and at the age of 93 lives with her husband Murdo in the village of Marvig on the isle of Lewis.

Clootie Dumpling or Duff as we say in Gaelic, is my favourite traditional recipe. And no-one makes it better than my Aunt Bellag. She adds an extra ingredient, a tablespoon of marmalade – which I love. It’s distinctive skin sets it apart from other fruit cakes. It takes a wee bit more effort than a lot of my recipes, but it’s definitely worth it.

Ingredients 

225g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Mixed Spice/Pumpkin Spice
1 tsp Cinnamon
Pinch of Salt
175g Sugar
100g Suet/shortening
100g Sultanas
75g Currants
75g Raisins
1 Grated Apple
150 ml Buttermilk
1 egg
1 tbsp black treacle
1 heaped tablespoon marmalade

Method

Everything goes into one bowl. First your dry ingredients. Sieve 225g of plain flour and add 1 tsp of baking soda, 1 tsp of mixed spice, a tsp cinnamon and a pinch of salt into the bowl and combine.

Grate an apple and add to the dry ingredients along with 175g of caster sugar, 100g of vegetable suet and your mix of dried fruit. I use 100g of sultanas, 75g currants and 75g of raisins.

Pour in 150ml buttermilk, 1 beaten egg, 1 heaped tablespoon black treacle and my Aunt Bellgas secret ingredients a heaped tablespoon of marmalade. Combine it all together.

Where does Clootie Dumpling get its name? well its from the piece of muslin cloth or cotton dishtowel you place in boiling water – its called the Cloot. Once cool enough to touch, ring the cloth out then spread it out on your work surface and sprinkle liberally with flour.

Place the mixture into the centre of the cloot. Gather up the edges of the cloth and with a length of string, tie it up (not too tightly), leaving some room for the dumpling to expand.

In a large pan of boiling water deep enough to cover the dumpling, place a plate or saucer upside down. Place the dumpling onto the plate, cover with the lid and simmer for 3 hours. now, Don’t let the water evaporate, you may need to top it up.

Once the time is up, take it out from the pan and carefully remove the cloot from the dumpling trying not to take off any of the ‘skin’. In a warm kitchen, try your best to let it rest for 30 minutes before slicing. Its delicious served warm with custard, or the next morning fried in bacon fat as part of a Hebridean breakfast! As we say in Gaelic, cho blasta – so tasty!

You can watch the Hebridean Baker, Coinneach MacLeod making clootie dumplings on his TikTok page. 

Photo: Supplied