Chocolate Pudding at Christmas!


The old style chocolate pudding seems to have lost its glory in the today's world of decadent desserts. But this easy to make at home dessert has many childhood moments tagged with it. My mom never baked but apart from the usual Indian desserts/mithai she would occasionally make chocolate pudding, caramel custard, jello and fruit custard/salad. 

So yesterday when my daughter asked me to make chocolate pudding for Christmas, it was like life had come back a full circle. So many memories came flooding by. Visiting my neighbors place for an annual Christmas feast used to be the highlight of the day. How I miss the Christmas Plum Cake, kulkuls, guava cheese and those savory flower shaped fritters(don't remember what they were called).

Mom made puddings from prepackaged mixes but I had to google few recipes to find allergen free ways. This recipe has been adapted to be made gluten free, egg free and corn free.

Makes : 4 - 6  dessert cups

 Ingredients:
  • 3 cups milk  (I used 2%)
  • 1/4 tapoica starch (can use cornstarch too)
  • 1/4 cup cocoa pdr (unsweetened)
  • pinch of salt for flavor
  • 3/4th cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

 Directions:
Prepare the containers to set the pudding in and have them ready. You can wet them with little water to avoid sticking of the pudding to the container.
Starch has a tendency to form clumps so make sure the milk is at room temperature when mixing into it. I started with cold milk to had to heat it up to get it to room temp.
  1. In a medium saucepan, warm up the milk.
  2. In another bowl, whisk together tapoica starch, cocoa pdr and salt.
  3. As the milk reaches room temperature, pour half the milk into the starch mix and whisk it till all lumps dissolve.
  4. Add sugar to the rest of the milk and bring to a boil.
  5. Now slowly add the starch mix into this milk through a sieve.
    Gently mash any lumps if present on the sieve.
  6. Keep stirring the mixture for 5 -10 mins as it gradually thickens.
  7. When it coats the bottom of the pan or your spoon its ready to be poured.
  8. Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla essence and butter.
    Now pour into your desired bowls/cups
  9. Cover the pudding with a plastic wrap touching the top surface of the pudding to avoid formation of the cream layer.
  10. Refrigerate it for 30 mins to 3 hours.
  11. At the time of serving, gently peel off the plastic layer.

I served this chocolate pudding with whipped cream and pomegranate pearls and crushed pistachios for Christmas Color and crunch.

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