To make the pudding:

1. In a large bowl, combine the dried fruit, walnuts, apple, carrot, orange, lemon peel, and beef suet.
2. Toss loosely with a spoon.
3. Stir in the flours, breadcrumbs, brown sugar, allspice, and salt.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the coconut oil, brandy, and orange and lemon juice.
5. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry, and stir until you have a uniformly thick paste.
6. Drape a damp towel over the mixing bowl, and refrigerate for at least 12 hours. If you need to, put the pudding in a smaller bowl so that it fits in your fridge.

The Next Day:

1. Grease a 6-8″ ceramic soufflé, deep casserole dish, or pudding bowl if you have one. (I used spray coconut oil). Make sure you choose a dish that you can fit a bread plate over or one which comes with a lid.
2. Put a large pot on the stove under medium heat. When choosing a pot, obviously choose one that your dish can fit in. If you’re choosing a regular soup pot, place a round trivet/cooling rack in the bottom of the pot. Cover the trivet with a washcloth and fill it with enough water that it reaches about half-way up your dish. What’s even better is if you have one of those fabulous double-boiler pasta pots! If you have one of those, put water in the bottom, and put the washcloth over the bottom of the inner liner.
3. While waiting for your water to boil, prep your pudding bowl.
4. Add the pudding to the greased dish, and put the lid/bread plate over it. Re-dampen the towel, and place it over the plate, making sure the edges cover the rim on all sides by about an inch.
5. Tie a string around the rim, securing the towel to the dish. If the edges of the towel fall down to the counter, you can fold them back over the string on top of the bread plate, and tie them together with an elastic. Your pudding bowl will look like it has a man-bun.
6. Now…time for the hack! (It’s really not rocket science, but it wasn’t in the instructions of the recipe I adapted, so I had to learn the hard way). Wrap your pudding bowl, like you would wrap a present with ribbon. (i.e. start pulling a LONG piece of string from your spool and put your pudding dish on top of the middle of it. Wrap it up and over the dish, bringing it back around to your start point. Wrap it around the start point once, and bring the string back up and around the dish at a 90 degree angle so that you form an ‘X’ surrounding the dish. Cut the string, and tie it on top with the other loose end.) That way, you can have a handle to pull your pudding out of the pot!
7. Once the water has boiled, reduce the heat to a simmer, and put your wrapped up pudding in the pot.
8. Steam for 7-8 hours. Make sure you check the water levels every couple of hours, adding water as is needed.
9. To make sure I didn’t spill water all over the top of the pudding dish, I put a funnel to one side of the dish, and poured water to the bottom of the pot that way!
10. When the pudding is done boiling, remove from the water, and let it cool to room temperature.
11. Cover the pudding with saran wrap and refrigerate it for 3 weeks (but like I said, I tasted this thing after a week and it was delicious).

Serving the Pudding

1. When you’re ready to serve this baby, get your pot setup out again, and steam the pudding for ~ 2 hours.
2. If you want to serve the pudding on a plate rather than from the dish itself, run a paring knife around the edge of the pudding, place your serving plate on top, and flip quickly.
3. Dust the plate with icing sugar if you want to jazz it up.
4. Any leftover pudding (if there is some) can legit be stored in your fridge for up to a year! You can also store it in the freezer.

Making the Caramel Sauce

1. While you’re waiting for the pudding to re-steam/heat, combine your sugar, water, and lemon juice in a sauce pan.
2. Bring to a rolling boil, until the syrup reaches a deep, reddish-brown caramel colour. This takes about 15 minutes. Swirl the pan on the stove element every now and again to make sure the sugar caramelizes evenly.
3. While you’re waiting for the syrup to caramelize, get your coconut milk, coconut oil, and lard ready.
4. When the caramel has reached the colour you want, remove it from the heat, and add your remaining ingredients. Watch out for steam!
5. Stir with a fork or a whisk until combined, and pour into your caramel serving dish (i.e. a gravy boat or a bowl).
6. The caramel will separate a bit as it cools. Just stir it every now and again with a spoon before drizzling it over your pudding.
7. Any leftover caramel can be stored in your fridge for a couple of weeks (if it lasts that long!)

Enjoy!!