Simple and Versatile Choc Puds

When we were living in UK, we were a bit confused at the beginning whenever Brits said “we shall have Puds after this”. Assuming Puds as the pudding we usually have in Indonesia, we were surprised to learn that Puds can refer to any kind of sweet dessert. So soft and hot chocolate cupcake can also mean Puds.

In Indonesia when you say pudding it will mean something similar to Jelly or Gelatin. Our Pudding is made of Seaweed extract unlike gelatine which derived from the collagen inside animals' skin and bones (Wikipedia) 

There are very sophisticated way of making Pudding but one very simple way I know consist of only 4 to 5 ingredients which you don’t need an exact measurement that can sometimes drive you crazy. My mother taught me and my brother how to make this back when we were in elementary school.

So if you are living abroad, get yourself to Asian store and look for something that look like this or similar. This is just an example of what I like to use. They come in color so to be safe choose the plain one, or chocolate if you want to make chocolate pudding.

OK, Here’s how to make one. Oh and… measuring wise – just go with what you feel like adding. This is very versatile.

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of Agar-Agar – the chocolate flavour one
• 8 glass of water – The packet will ask you to put 4 glass or 500ml of water but I usually add ¾ of it’s amount to soften the pudding to a melt-in-your-mouth texture.
• A cup of Milk you desire – the more the creamier – If you have Chocolate Milk it will be perfect too.
• Several Tablespoon of Sugar – You decide the level of sweetness
• 2 Tbsp of Powdered chocolate or 2 chunks of cooking chocolate (melted) – Optional

Directions:

1. Put the water in a medium size pan, add the sugar and milk (and the powdered or melted chocolate if your are using). Stir until sugar dissolve.
2. Add the agar-agar packet and stir well until all combine without any lumps.
3. Put it on the stove – medium heat and keep on stirring in circular motion. Never stop stirring or else the bottom will stick.
4. When it is bubbling, take it off the stove and then pour into mold.

Note and Tips:

1.  If you are using Plain (no Color) Agar-Agar and you want to make chocolate Pudding, then the addition of powdered chocolate or the use of chocolate milk is a must (or else how can we call it chocolate pudding when it’s not chocolate.
2. If you are using Plain (no Color) Agar-Agar you can alternatively make a vanilla pudding. Just use plain milk and add some vanilla essence or vanilla pods.
3. Wet the mold before pouring the hot pudding mix. Just run some water on the inside of the mold and empty it again.