Matcha pudding is a Japanese green tea pudding with red beans and cream. No eggs are used, so it's much lighter than custard pudding and will satisfy your sweet tooth craving. Not to mention, it's a great alternative to getting your caffeine fix in the morning.
Our matcha pudding recipe makes a delicate, soft dessert with a robust green tea flavour. You'll love our recipe, which has the right sweetness and different textures in each bite. We've tried it with and without gelatin and used different sweetener alternatives to cater to everyone.
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Matcha Pudding Ingredients
For this recipe, you will need the following:
- Matcha powder
- Gelatin or Vege-gel (vegan-friendly alternative)
- Water
- Milk or soy milk
- Sugar
- Red bean paste
- Salt to taste
Matcha Powder
Green tea powder is crucial in our Japanese matcha pudding recipe. It's what makes this Japanese dessert naturally green. You can use ceremonial-grade or culinary-grade matcha powder. However, we prefer using culinary-grade powder in our matcha pudding.
Culinary-grade matcha is made from slightly older tea leaves and is less expensive than ceremonial-grade. It has a more robust and bitter flavour, making it better suited for cooking and baking applications. The taste notes perfectly balance this green tea dessert's sweet vanilla flavours.
While ceremonial-grade matcha is typically higher quality, it is also more expensive. Plus, the sweeter flavour notes are more suited for beverage purposes.
Salt
Salt helps balance the sweetness and enhances the overall flavour. While you can make our matcha pudding recipe without salt, we don't recommend omitting it entirely. It may result in a less flavorful end product. However, you can adjust the amount of salt used based on your preference.
If you are trying to reduce your sodium intake, use a smaller amount of salt or entirely omit it in our matcha pudding recipe.
Sugar
White sugar is best as it adds a neutral sweetness to the dessert. We don't recommend using honey, maple syrup or coconut sugar in our matcha pudding recipe, as the natural flavouring will interfere with the earthy taste of green tea.
However, stevia is a good option if you're looking for a healthier alternative to use in matcha pudding. Stevia is an excellent calorie-free alternative.
Refer to the conversion chart on the package, as the amount needed will depend on the brand and type of stevia.
Milk
If you're lactose intolerant, you can substitute whole milk with any nut milk of your choice. However, we highly recommend soy milk as the flavour notes and creamy texture perfectly complement the matcha's clean, earthy taste. The nuttiness of soy complements matcha reasonably well. Dairy still works best as its creaminess works well for a pudding dessert.
If you use heavy cream instead of milk, you'll have a thicker and creamier texture. Check out our matcha chocolate recipe for more decadent yet earthy desserts.
Vanilla Extract
Vanilla extract enhances the overall flavour of your green tea dessert by providing a subtle sweetness and a touch of warmth. Additionally, it can mask any potential bitterness that the matcha powder may have.
However, if you prefer to omit the vanilla extract, you can certainly do so without affecting the overall texture or consistency of the custard.
Gelatin or Vege Gel
Gelatin is commonly used in matcha pudding recipes as a thickening agent. It forms a gel-like texture, giving the pudding its characteristic texture and consistency.
For our matcha pudding recipe, we're using vege-gel, a vegan-friendly alternative to regular animal gelatin. The texture of the pudding falls between gelatin pudding and agar-agar pudding.
Pudding made from gelatin is usually quite soft but holds its shape fairly well. Meanwhile, matcha pudding made from agar agar tends to be slightly firmer, with a bit of a bouncy texture. Agar-based pudding holds its shape quite well but can be brittle when you scoop it into it.
From our experience, pudding made from vege gel falls somewhere between the two. You can use agar agar as another thickening alternative in green tea pudding. However, keep in mind the texture difference above.
Matcha Pudding Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tbsps culinary-grade matcha powder
- 1 vege gel packet or 2 gelatin sheets
- 2 tbsps hot water
- 1 ¼ cups whole milk
- ¼ cup sugar
- 3 tbsps red bean paste
- whipped cream optional
- salt to taste
Cooking Instructions
- Pour the whole milk into a saucepan and bring it to almost a boil. When tiny bubbles surround the edge of the saucepan, turn off the heat. Add sugar to the milk and whisk well until dissolved.
- Add 3 tablespoons of the milk mixture to the matcha powder. Whisk until the mixture is silky smooth and lump-free. Pour the mix into the remaining milk mixture and whisk until well combined.
- Add vege gel powder into the mixture and whisk well. Add salt to taste. If you're using gelatin sheets, you must melt them beforehand.
- Separate it into individual servings. Refrigerate your matcha pudding for 2 hours, and serve with whipped cream and red bean paste on top.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Calories have been calculated using an online calculator. Nutritional information offered on Honest Food Talks is for general information purposes and is only a rough estimate.
How To Make Matcha Pudding with Gelatin
Our easy matcha pudding recipe is quick to whip up if you have a few hours before your guests arrive. It can also be made ahead of time and is best served chilled.
Dissolve Gelatin
Firstly, the gelatin was melted using the double boiler method. The double boiler method is a gentle and gradual way to melt gelatin without overheating it. Overheated gelatin will cause it to lose its setting ability.
Next, heat some water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring it to a simmer. Place the gelatin in a heatproof bowl and place the bowl on top of the simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Stir as it begins to melt. Once it's dissolved, remove the bowl from the heat.
Whisk Matcha With Milk
Then, heat the milk until small bubbles form and turn off the heat. Start by sifting the matcha powder to remove clumps. Whisk the sifted matcha powder with three tablespoons of hot milk using a matcha whisk. A whisk or chasen can help ensure the tea's buttery, smooth texture.
If you don't have the whisk, an electric milk frother will do the trick. It is important to note that you must ensure absolutely no lumps while whisking. Otherwise, the green tea dessert will not achieve the desired smooth consistency.
Add sugar to the milk and whisk until well dissolved. Leave out a tablespoon of the whisked matcha and add the rest to the milk and sugar mix. Add melted gelatin and salt and whisk well.
Finally, we want to add a tablespoon matcha mixture to the red bean paste and mix well. This will help the red beans better infuse with the rest of the dessert when layering them.
Layer In A Bowl Or Cup
Separate it into individual servings like small bowls or ramekins by layering the red bean paste mix with the matcha milk mix as the top layer. Refrigerate for two hours before serving with whipped cream for garnish.
Matcha Pudding without Gelatin Alternatives
While gelatin is a common ingredient in this dessert, you can still make matcha pudding without gelatin.
For our green tea dessert recipe, we're using vege gel, a vegetarian-friendly thickening agent. However, you can use other alternatives like cornstarch, arrowroot powder, kanten powder, and agar agar.
Cornstarch and arrowroot powder will maintain the texture of the desert, and you only need to mix them with the other ingredients over medium-high heat.
Kanten powder and agar agar need to be melted similarly to gelatin. However, unlike gelatin, kanten powder and agar agar vary in strength. The amount used will greatly affect the texture of the dessert. More kanten powder or agar might turn the dish into matcha pudding jelly, slightly firmer than the original mousse-like texture.
Matcha tiramisu is another green tea dessert that does not use gelatin and can be made without baking.
How To Store Matcha Pudding
This green tea dessert is served chilled and kept in the refrigerator to maintain its freshness and custard texture. It can stay fresh in the fridge for up to four days.
You can store it in individually portioned jars and turn it into your on-the-go snack.
Variations
There are many variations that you can make of this dessert. By just adjusting the ingredients or adding additional flavours, it is easy for you to jazz it up based on your preferences. That is how versatile this recipe is.
Vegan Matcha Pudding
This pudding can be vegan-friendly and dairy-free by substituting the gelatin with plant-based alternatives. You could also replace whole milk with any nut milk of your choice.
Matcha Chia Pudding
Add a few tablespoons of chia seeds to the mixture before refrigerating for added texture and nutritional benefits. Add more chia seeds if you don't want to include red bean paste in this recipe.
The chia seeds add more viscosity to the pudding without interfering with the natural green tea flavour, as they are naturally flavourless.
Matcha Pudding In Milk Tea
This dessert can be a great addition to milk tea for added texture and flavour. Add cubed or mashed matcha pudding over your iced milk tea and serve. You can adjust the amount of pudding based on your personal preference. Adding boba or other toppings like grass jelly is also recommended for more texture.
This recipe gives Japanese matcha pudding a custard-like texture. By adding eggs to our matcha pudding recipe, you'll make a matcha mousse, which will be a softer, creamier alternative to our recipe. You can also use this method to make strawberry pudding using pureed fresh strawberries.
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