Or, for those of you speak Latin, “The Opposite of E Pluribus Unum.”
Today’s recipe is super-exciting because it’s flexible, so it yields itself to over a million variations. You get to be creative: Vegan Whipped Cream? Banana pudding? Pumpkin pudding? Chocolate-mocha-fudge? You can make all these and more from this one basic recipe! Working with agar agar can be troublesome because certain ingredients (such as citrus fruits) may inhibit the gelling process. So you’re never sure if the final product’ll turn out right. Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to make recipes on a prayer; if I’m making something, I want to KNOW it’s going to turn out well and that my time won’t have been wasted.
But agar is such a useful ingredient when it does work, so I didn’t want to give up on it completely. Therefore, I experimented until I figured out a way to have my agar and eat it too– no risk involved! I’ve tweaked the recipe so it’ll work with just about any add-ins, even those pesky citrus fruits. Plus, you can make up a big batch of the “base” ahead of time and then portion it out to make different-flavored puddings all at once!
“Working with Agar” Tutorial
Basic Agar Pudding
(makes about 2 cups, or two large servings)
- 2 and 2/3 cups milk of choice (640g) (I like almond milk)
- 2 tablespoons agar flakes (5 to 6 g)
Follow the directions shown under the photos below. Then refer to the “add in ideas” section to make puddings, mousses, sauces, and more!
Step One: Measure the agar and milk into a pot. Before turning on the heat, let the two sit for 5 minutes to help the gelling process.
Step Two: Slowly bring to a boil. After it starts to boil, lower to a simmer until the agar flakes pretty much dissolve, about 5-8 minutes. (They won’t dissolve completely. It should look something like the above photo.)
Step Three: Turn off heat and leave for a few minutes (5ish) to cool, then put in the fridge (covered or not).
Step Four: When it’s cooled and gelled, the fun part begins.
Now you get to make pudding, or my favorite Vegan Whipped Cream.
Be creative! And, as I said before, nothing’s stopping you from making extra, dividing the recipe, and adding different mix-ins to each serving! Put your mix-ins into the pot, and use your hand blender to blend it all together (or, transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor. Lately, I’ve been loving my Magic Bullet).
Below are some add-in ideas I’ve brainstormed (not all of which I’ve tried)… maybe after you experiment, you can come back and leave me comments telling me what YOU did with the basic mix. I’d love to know! (Seriously.)
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Add-In Ideas:
(I’ve tried 1, 3, 5, and 6, with great results)
- Add pureed pumpkin, winter squash, or sweet potato, and add some cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice.
- Add pureed fruit, or even a jar of baby food or applesauce!
- Decrease the amount of milk, and add some coffee, for a coffee-flavored pudding.
- Use a flavored beverage as your milk, such as Silk Coffee, Silk Eggnog or Chai Latte.
- Mix in some protein powder.
- Add veggies to make a thick, creamy soup.
- Use coconut milk as the non-dairy milk, and add coconut shavings (and maybe even chocolate chips!).
- Mix in some nut butter, and jelly, fruit, or chocolate chips(!) for PB&J, PB-Banana, or Chocolate-Peanut-Butter-Cup Pudding.
Anyone have other flavor ideas?
just wanted to let you know that i’ve tried this recipe many-a-time and fell in love with it all over again this morning. i impulse-bought a can of lite coconut milk (not the soy-milk-like drink made by So Delicious) but the Thai canned kind. anywho, i boiled the can (1 2/3 cups) with 1.5 Tbl agar according to the pkg instructions. then i added a 1/2 tsp of coconut extract & let it set. this shiznit is friggin’ delicious. add avocado/chocolate pudding to create awesome black & white parfaits! tons of healthy fats and TONS of delicious flavors
You had me at “coconut” ;).
at an asian supermakret by where i live,they have agar agar in bar form,could this be used instead of agar agar in flake form?couldnt i just grind the bar into a powder?
No idea, sorry. You can experiment, though! 🙂
Hi Beccah, and Katie if you’re wondering too!
I tried out your method using agar in bar form and it worked perfectly!
Here is the method written on a card inside my bar Agar, just as a guide:
1. Place 1100ml water in a pan
2. Add 2 bars (20g) agar-agar to soften
3. Cook using low heat, stirring constantly until agar-agar is fully dissolved
4. Add sugar and other flavourings as desired
5.Continue stirring until mixture becomes homogenous
6. Pour into dessert pan/mould and chill.
Hope this helps!
hi katey,
Sorry to use comments but I didn’t see an email option; I wanted to (a) let you know I was linking to your agar preparation, but I also (b) wanted to know if you could give me any suggestions on incorporating agar into a recipe I am working on. I tried using xanthum and it not only fell flat, but then it souped up and ended up in a bowl. I’m looking to achieve a mousse’ier texture than a pudding/gelatin one. Any chance you could take a look and give me a direction on how to proceed? Also, sorry to put up an outward bound link, but here’s the experiment’s page; http://www.nomfg.com/su/2011/9/29/experiment-and-pics-oreo-cream-pumpkin-pie.html
I do’t really know much about agar. The only way I know to use it is in the recipe you already saw on my site… I would say that it’s definitely mousse-ier if you blend it after it sets. Before blending, it will be gelatinous, but if you put the whole thing in the blender, it’ll be more creamy. Good luck!!
I, too, have a bar of agar agar which I bought at my local Asian market as it is FAR less expensive than agar powder. I wonder with becca if it can be pulverized and used? I wonder how best to go about that? Has anyone tried? I would like to make pumpkin pudding using it as the thickening agent. Thanks for your ideas and guidance.
Hi Susan-Jane, I used the Agar in the bar form and it worked perfectly!
Here is the method written on a card inside my bar Agar:
1. Place 1100ml water in a pan
2. Add 2 bars (20g) agar-agar to soften
3. Cook using low heat, stirring constantly until agar-agar is fully dissolved
4. Add sugar and other flavourings as desired
5.Continue stirring until mixture becomes homogenous
6. Pour into dessert pan/mould and chill.
Hope this helps!
Wow! this is so informative! LOVE ur work! :o)
This looks so good! Agar’s really readily available around here, so I’ll probably give this recipe a try some time soon. Normally I get 6-7 hours of sleep, but I run fine on that amount even though I should probably get more; I take intermittent naps throughout the day (between classes, on the way home etc) so my energy’s pretty fine. 😀
What exactly is agar agar?
I attempted to make the almond milk ice cream with an ice cream maker but it was too thin and didn’t work well. Do you think if i added some agar to the mixture it might make it thicker and work?
The canned coconut milk ice cream recipe I have calls for agar agar. You boil the milk base with the agar agar and sugar, let it cool, put it in the fridge and let it set. Once set, blend it up until smooth, add vanilla, then pour into ice cream maker! I’ve never tried almond milk ice cream with agar agar, but it would probably work. In my experience, unless you are going to eat all the ice cream right away after churning, almond milk isn’t ‘fat-filled’ enough to work well (it turns into a block of ice in the freezer). Gums (xanthan gum and guar gum used together) are also another good option for low-calorie milks like almond milk, but again, they freeze pretty hard! Also, the more sugar you add to a recipe, the ‘softer’ it will freeze.
Does it matter what type of almond milk you use to make this? I tend to use the low calorie unsweetened vanilla that is 40 calories per 8 oz. Would that work? Or does it need more “substance” (i.e. calories) ?
That works :).
Just made a nice batch of “chocolate pudding” with this trick… I’ve always enjoyed kanten (agar agar) strands in Japanese seaweed salads but never knew it could act as a thickener, too. Thanks for this Katie! I can’t find kanten powder where I live, so I just used the regular kanten strands that get softened and mixed into wakame salads… They worked well! I mixed my almond milk/kanten mixture with a pinch of stevia, unsweetened cocoa powder, and a bit of chocolate protein powder. The funny thing was that the almond milk and kanten mixture didn’t thicken even after it cooled… but once I blended it, it thickened within seconds! Weird but amazing. 🙂
Thanks for the tutorial and simple but great recipe!
(And just so others know – like I said, the kanten/agar agar strands work just as well as the powder, as long as you use the equivalent weight of strands as you would powder!)