This simmering pud, packed with dried fruits soaked in cider apple brandy, fills the kitchen with the most deliciously enticing aroma. If this pudding is too large for you, it scales down very easily - simply halve all of the ingredients
1. Drain the ginger in a sieve over a bowl - reserve the syrup. Chop the ginger into pea-sized pieces. Put them into a bowl with the dried fruit. Heat the brandy with 3 tbsp of syrup from the ginger jar until just simmering, then pour over the fruit and leave to plump up overnight, giving them a good stir from time to time.
2. Mix the flour with the suet, sugars, zest, ground ginger and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and gradually add the orange juice and just enough water to create a stiff, manageable dough (you may not need all of it), working it in with a fork then with your hands until just smooth.
3. Turn it out onto a lightly-floured surface and shape it into a rectangle, then roll it out until it’s a shade more than 1cm thick and approximately 35cm x 40cm (keeping rolling pin well-floured).
4. Spread the syrupy fruit in an even layer over the pastry, leaving a 3cm margin around the edges. Fold these margins neatly towards the centre, then roll up the pastry away from you, starting with the short end. Use a wet thumb to make a sticky seal on the end of the pastry, so your roly-poly doesn’t come unstuck.
5. Butter a sheet of greaseproof paper and put a crease in it lengthwise (to allow the pudding to expand). Wrap the pudding in the paper and tie at the end with kitchen string, then wrap again in a clean, damp tea towel, again tying the ends with string, rather like a Christmas cracker.
6. Cook in a fish kettle or a large saucepan of gently simmering water for 2 hours, topping up the water as necessary - it doesn’t have to be completely submerged, but should be two-thirds covered with water. Rest for a couple of minutes before unwrapping carefully, then cut into thick slices and serve with hot custard.
7. If you’d rather bake it, preheat the oven to 170°C/325F/gas mark 3, put the roly-poly, seam-side down, on a baking sheet lined with lightly greased baking parchment then brush the top with a little milk. Bake for about 50 minutes until cooked through and golden.
© River Cottage
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