Robbie Millar is one of Northern Ireland's stars; his restaurant Shanks, which is in the Blackwood Golf Centre on the Crawfordsburn Road, Bangor, Co. Down, holds one of the few Michelin stars of the North. He's a gifted chef with a very personal cooking style that has made Shanks a haunt of Belfast's gastronomes. I've eaten in his restaurant a couple of times and really enjoyed his food and the wine list that doesn't hurt the wallet. With the rapidly approaching advent of Christmas, here's a seasonal recipe from Robbie.

SHANKS LIGHT AND BUTTERY CHRISTMAS PUDDING
Ingredients for 4

200g shredded suet
225g soft brown sugar
half bottle of stout
225g breadcrumbs
50g flour
half a glass of whiskey
125g currants
175g sultanas
175g raisins
50g glace cherries
3 eggs, beaten
half an orange, rind and juice
quarter teaspoonful of mixed spice
quarter teaspoonful of nutmeg or cinnamon
half a teaspoonful of baking powder

Method

Beat the butter and sugar to a cream.
Add flour, breadcrumbs and suet alternately with the beaten eggs.
Add dry ingredients and stir in the stout, whiskey and orange juice.
Cover and boil for 5 hours.
Always stand your pudding bowl on a trivet, saucepan lid or piece of wood in the bottom of your saucepan to keep it from touching the bottom of the pan. Keep topped up with boiling water as necessary.