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?
I just tried this with half the recipe with one banana, and a tablespoon of peanut butter. Wow. It’s so thick it’s like pb banana pastry cream!! yum yum yum
I was perusing my local japanese market and found agar agar powder (about 2 tbsp worth) for 2 or 3 bucks!! I have never bought it before because at my little organic market agar flakes were $10. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried this with agar powder…but I’m gonna give it a shot…I’ll let you know how it goes….if you have a Japanese market or even a chinese market, check and see if they have it for cheaper than the health food store. 🙂
so if you don’t use all of this what is the best way to store it? I’m assuming in covered container in fridge. thanks
Yes, covered or uncovered in the fridge are both fine.
Hey, I just made this and it was kinda gross, but I’m thinking it might be the kind of almond milk I used though. I used blue diamond almond milk and when it was boiling I noticed it smelled weird. It’s a lot like pudding now after I blended it, but it just has this weird taste/smell. What kind of almond milk do you use? Maybe I’ll try the kind you use or try soy milk. Thanks so much!
So excited to try this as I’m recently trying to really cut out refined sugars but would LOVE some vegan puddingy goodness. I am really hoping this works, but wondering if I should not have stirred it at all? I used a heaping teaspoon of agar powder (as this is what the interwebs claim is a sub for two TBS of flakes and stirred a bit when simmering so it wouldn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Now, it’s in the ‘fridge but separated, solids on the bottom, clear with some bits on the top, then bubbles. it’s still super warm so i’m hoping as it cools the magic happens. I used Almond Breeze Original Almond Milk. Will come back to let you know what becomes of my attempt!
would this work with agar powder? and is knox flavorless gelatin the same thing just not vegan? if i made it with this instead would it work? thanks so much katie your amazing!
Sorry, I’ve only tried it with actual agar flakes so I don’t know.
I used the powder since my healthfood store has been sold out of the flakes for ages. Works great 🙂
Do you use the same amount of agar powder as agar flakes? I would love to try this but I only have powder… Thanks!!!!
I was wondering the same thing since I only found powder, but according to a few online sites 1 tsp powder = 1 Tbsp flakes, so use 1/3 less if you have the powder. I haven’t tried it yet, but plan to soon!
I tried this with Silk almond milk but it does not seem to be setting… I followed all of the directions. Do you know what I could have done wrong?
I’ve had agar agar mixture not ‘set’ in the fridge before. I believe it was because I kept poking them to see if they’d set yet. Once you poke them, they don’t set up again, but if you blend it, it will still be okay (to my knowledge).
If you use powder, apparently it’s 1tsp compared to 1tbs of flakes. I’ve used some agar just with some mashed up cooked pears, they were warm so I stirred in about a tsp of agar flakes (to one cup pears), then mashed and put back in the microwave for 30 seconds. Then stirred & put in fridge and voila! Chunky pear jelly (which is what we call jello in Australia, and your jelly is our jam) 😀
Do you have to use non-dairy milk for the agar agar, or does dairy milk taste the same?
Sorry, I guess it doesn’t matter… I really like almond milk, but I don’t see why another milk wouldn’t work. Just don’t use citrus juices.