Plant-Based Creamy Chocolate Pudding

A unique combination of bitter and slightly sweet that is suitable for people who do not like desserts that are too sweet.

Lately, I have been interested in chocolate, not because the price of cocoa fruit on the farm is getting more expensive. But because I am interested in cocoa powder which is an alternative to my coffee, also about chocolate nibs that I add to my fresh fruit in the morning.

I started trying chocolate even though I didn't like chocolate before. Of course, what we don't like doesn't mean it's not good. So, I tried to see chocolate from another perspective. Chocolate does have a rich source of antioxidants. In addition to matcha powder, I finally became interested in consuming cocoa powder as an alternative and variation of my drinks.

So, when buying cocoa powder, and cocoa nibs, I also bought 100 percent dark chocolate without added sugar. But because I hadn't eaten the dark chocolate bar, I finally thought about making desserts from these ingredients.

Because I started to like the unique bitter taste of chocolate, I thought about creamy chocolate pudding. For a long time, I have been craving for a dessert made from chocolate ingredients that are not too sweet.

So, in this food blog, I will show you about chocolate pudding recipe with a plant-based version. Since this is a plant-based version, so I use coconut milk.

The most important thing is also the use of "agar powder" instead of gelatin. Agar powder can be found in Asian markets. While in my country, "Agar Powder" is a popular ingredient for making pudding that can produce a soft texture.

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THE INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups of coconut milk
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 70 grams of dark chocolate bar
• 1/2 teaspoons of agar powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla powder

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MAKING COCONUT MILK FROM FRESH COCONUT

Before I start with the instructions for making chocolate pudding, I first make coconut milk. Because the power is out, I can't use a blender to process coconut meat into coconut milk. Finally, I use a manual method.

First, I remove the coconut meat from the coconut shell. Also, I clean the skin at the bottom of the coconut meat. It takes care not to cut your hands with a knife while doing all this work.

Then, I grate the coconut meat. We need to get grated coconut to get coconut milk. After getting the grated coconut, then I added 3 cups of water.

Strain the coconut milk, and separate it from the grated coconut. Make sure to only use 3 cups of coconut milk. If it's still not enough, you can add a little more water. Then set aside to prepare other pudding ingredients.

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CHOCOLATE PUDDING COOKING PROCESS

STEP 1

Prepare a cooking pot that is big enough to hold about 1 liter of water so that the pudding mixture doesn't spill during the cooking process. Then, add sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla powder, and 1 cup of water. Stir them evenly using a whisk balloon.

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STEP 2

After making the chocolate mixture, add coconut milk to the mixture. Stir well again.

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STEP 3

After mixing the coconut milk with the chocolate mixture, then add the agar powder. Stir them well until there are no more lumps.

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STEP 4

Turn on medium heat to high. Then cook the pudding mixture until simmering. Use a whisk balloon to stir them occasionally so that they don't burn on the bottom of the pan.

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STEP 5

After the mixture becomes simmer, add the dark chocolate bar that has been cut into smaller sizes. Stir well and bring them to a boil.

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STEP 6

Once the chocolate pudding mixture has boiled, remove from heat and turn off the heat.

Then, stir the pudding mixture to remove the steam before transferring it to the pudding mold.

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STEP 7

Transfer the pudding mixture into molds according to taste. You can also just use glasses to serve the pudding simply so that later you don't have to bother removing them from the mold again. You can directly spoon the pudding if you use serving glasses. Let them solid in the room temperature or in the refrigerator.

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THE RESULTS

Look at this beautiful chocolate pudding! I made several of these chocolate pudding molds. Also, I added a little bright detail using dragon fruit pieces to enhance their visual beauty.

Honestly, this is the first time I have used a dark chocolate bar as a pudding mixture with agar powder variations. I was surprised and happy to see the soft texture of this pudding. You can also see for yourself how shiny this pudding is. Oh, it's so beautiful!

How about the taste? With 100 percent dark chocolate and I only added 1/2 cup of sugar for the entire pudding mixture, the taste is just right. It is too sweet, but I can still taste the bitter taste of chocolate. If you want it sweeter, you can add 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup; again the sugar is adjusted to taste.

For my husband, it's the same as me, a little sugar is more suitable so that the chocolate flavor dominates, especially since my husband is a chocolate lover (because he doesn't drink coffee).

I am very happy with my new recipe this time, and of course, I will often make this pudding again. Because it's not too sweet, so it really captivates my heart. :)

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ALL PHOTOS ARE MY OWN PROPERTIES TAKEN BY MYSELF.

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Best Regards,
Anggrek Lestari

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