Domo-kun Christmas Pudding

When a Japanese girl keeps making Christmas pudding every month, she eventually wonders if she could break the British tradition and make it more Japan. It was a fine morning in early April when I was making my 4th Christmas Pudding in Bangkok, an idea popped up in my mind.

“I think I could just ditch the pudding bowl and use a square container instead…  Then it will probably look something like….*gasp!* Domo kun!!”

While my pudding was marinating in the refrigerator, I ran to a baking store in the city and found a perfect container to make my very first square pudding. Needless to say, I was -super- excited.

If you are interested in the normal pudding, please take a look at my original Christmas Pudding recipe I wrote before. It’s basically the same. Just more cuteness into it this time.

1: Chop the dry fruits and soak them overnight. 
Soak them with 1/3 cup water, 3 tbsp brandy, 1 tbsp rum.

Next day…..

2: Work on the orange and lemon.
Find a big bowl then make a lemon and orange zest.  Then make freshly squeezed juices from the same orange and lemon into the bowl. Then chop the almonds into small pieces and mix them with the rest. 

3: Add apple, soaked dried fruits, and all the rest of the ingredients except for the egg.
Peel half an apple and shred it. Add it in a bowl with soaked dried fruit, flour, bread crumbs(panko), cinnamon, salt, and thinly cut butter, brandy, and rum. 

4: Mix well.
Mix until all the ingredients are combined, then flat the mixture with a back of the spoon and wrap it. 

5: Put the bowl in a refrigerator and leave it overnight.

next day(again)…..

6: Add an egg.
After a night, beat an egg and put it in your Christmas Pudding bowl. The mixture should have a fairly soft consistency.

7: Change the container.
It’s time for the transformation. Make sure you flatten the mixture with a spoon or hitting the container itself to the ground. Then prepare a lightly buttered aluminum foil. Wrap it around the container with a string.

8: Wrap it again, this time with a cloth.
Slowly put the bowl in a big pot with a half-full of water. I did this way because I simply did not have a steamer. This is a great way to make Christmas Pudding without a steamer. Steam this way with the lowest heat for 8 hours. Enjoy your entire kitchen smelling like a British Christmas all day. *giggles*

After 8 long hours…

9: Done.
Big perfect square pudding, at your service. If the pudding looks lighter than this, try steaming another 2~3 hour. You want your pudding perfectly brown.

10: Wrap it with a fresh aluminum foil, then rest it in a refrigerator until Christmas.
Pour a little extra Brandy. That way, it’s easier for the pudding to absorb the liquid. Then wrap and let it rest until Christmas day.

Note: The pudding cannot be eaten immediately, it really does need to be stored and rested then reheated on Christmas Day. Eating the pudding immediately after cooking will cause it to collapse and the flavors will not have had time to mature.

On the Christmas Day…

11: Reheat the pudding.
Reheat it by steaming again with a pot with half-fill water for about an hour.  Slice the edge with a table knife and place the pudding on a flat plate.

12: Melt white chocolate.
Prepare white chocolate and a squeezer. Then set a half-fill saucepan with water and bring it to a simmer. Place a cup on top, making sure it doesn’t touch water (or it will overheat). Stir with a metal spoon until melted. Avoid wooden or plastic spoons – these retain moisture that makes chocolate seize (harden).

Even one stray drop of water can cause melting chocolate to ruin its texture and consistency. Seized chocolate won’t melt smoothly, no matter how long you stir it. Domo kun wants his teeth nice and smooth.

13: Pour the chocolate in a squeezer.
Cut a tip on a squeezer and make sure you cut it as small as possible. This is going to be so much easier to draw if you have a sharper tip. Be careful when you pour the chocolate in a squeezer; it’s very hot. Try not to directly touch the hot part when you draw.

14: Make Domo’s mouth.
Cut an apple and shape it into a square size, just like Domo kun’s mouth. Draw Domo’s teeth with freshly melted chocolate. Try not to draw so slow because melt chocolate will eventually harden itself. For the detailed part to make the teeth look more pointy, I used a sliced apple I cut from earlier as a brush. It worked pretty well.

15: Remove the pudding from the container.
After an hour of steaming, here is the beautiful square pudding. This is the moment of new history, a square Christmas Pudding. 

16: Cut the pudding into Domo’s size. Then make the eyes.
Using a dry sharp knife, cut the pudding to make it look rectangular. Just like Domo kun himself.  The rest of the pudding is cut into 4 pieces, and these are going to be his limbs.

Then cut the olives as round as possible. These are going to be his eyes. Make sure each eye is the right size. Too big or too small would make such a difference! I used a piece of pasta to stick the olives to Domo kun’s face.

17: Attach the month on the pudding.
With the same pasta trick.

18: Attach the limbs.
For his legs, just simply put them on a plate towards his body. For his arms, use the pasta pieces again to connect with the body. You might need several pieces of pasta to stable arms for this time.  Here is the final formation of Domo kun Christmas Pudding with a cute berry headpiece on top. I think he’s ready for the holidays. 
19: Let’s eat the Domo kun.
For the Christmas night, remove his headpiece and follow these 3 steps:

Merry Merry Christmas, Cute lovers!

xoxo
-Yuki