Pressure Cooker Pease Pudding Recipe

Pease pudding is one of those English classics, made since at least Tudor times (there are recipes going back to the 1580s). Most commonly made in the North of England today, typically cooked with pork or ham it's still a staple dish in many places.

Recently I've been experimenting with Pressure Cooker cooking. My wife uses lots of split yellow peas as a base and thickener in her native West African cookery and I was wondering if dried green peas could be used in a similar way.

After a bit of experimentation, I fell back onto the classic pease pudding and decided to experiment with a quick method of preparing it in the pressure cooker. With recipe you can make a pease pudding in a couple of hours, rather than the over night soaking and three hours cooking needed with the traditional version.

Pressure Cooker Pease Pudding Recipe

Serves: 4–6

Ingredients:

300g (2/3 lb) dried green peas
600ml (2 1/2 cups) water
2 ham or bacon bones
1 onion, chopped
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
2 eggs
50g butter

Method:

Pick over the peas, arrange in a large bowl then pour over enough boiling water to cover. Set aside to soak for 30 minutes then drain in a colander.

Combine the water, soaked peas, bones and onion in a pressure cooker. Season to taste with salt and black pepper then seal the cooker and bring to pressure over high heat. Stabilize the pressure and cook for 9 minutes then take off the heat and set aside to cool naturally.

Open the cooker and remove the bones then mash the peas coarsely. Beat in the butter and then the eggs. Adjust the seasonings to taste then turn the mixture into a greased pudding bowl. Cover with a pleated sheet of greaseproof (waxed) paper and then a double layer of foil. Tie securely in place.

Wash the pressure cooker well then place a trivet in the base. Stand the pudding on the trivet then pour in enough water to come 1/4 of the way up the pudding. Secure and seal the lid, bring to pressure over high heat then stabilize the pressure and cook for 7 minutes.

Take off the heat and allow the pressure to reduce naturally. Remove the pudding from the cooker, take off the wrappings then turn the pudding out onto a warmed plate and serve (typically it's served to accompany a gammon joint).