Chocolate & Green Tea Pudding
Creamy, Dreamy, Vegan Delight!
This Chocolate and Green Tea Pudding created by Heidi Swanson in 101 Cookbooks and based upon a recipe from Teany Book: Stories, Food, Romance, Cartoons and, of Course, Tea by Moby and Kelly Tisdale, is pure vegan. No dairy at all, yet look at the picture - can you believe how creamy it looks? The consistency is beautiful, quite light and mousse-like. It is very easy to make, and would make a nice, rich chocolate treat the next time you have a mixed-crowd of friends over. Heidi likes the simplicity of this recipe, but suggests trying a few different brands of tofu before committing to one version. Heidi used Nasoya brand tofu (a combination of silken and soft) in the recipe, and the flavor was pretty good she claims. Tofu makes up the body of this pudding so it is important to get one with the right flavor. Also, be sure to use top notch chocolate chips.
Chocolate & Green Tea Pudding Recipe
By Heidi Swanson, 101 Cookbooks
Makes 5 servings.
Ingredients
1 cup chocolate soy milk
1 tablespoon loose green tea leaves
10 ounces (one bag) semisweet vegan chocolate chips
12 ounces silken tofu
1/4 cup soft tofu
2 tablespoons matcha tea (green tea powder, available at any good tea shop), optional
Method
1. Pour the chocolate milk and tea leaves into a small pot and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let the chocolate milk cool. Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler (or you can do this in a small pot over low heat, stirring constantly).
2. Put the soy milk mixture (Heidi: this is where I strained it), melted chocolate, silken tofu, and soft tofu into a food processor. Blend until totally smooth. Put into individual cups or bowls, and refrigerate for at least one hour.
3. Before serving, take a paper doily or any other design cutout and lay it over the pudding.
4. Generously powder the top of the doily or cutout with the matcha. Lift the doily or cutout, making sure not to disturb the design you just made. Serve immediately.