Pudding

[magid]

I like pudding. I'm lazy enough to like prepared pudding, too, though I don't often buy it. When I do, it's usually a local brand, in bigger-than-individual-size packaging, partly because it's a local brand, but mostly because I know what all the ingredients are (the added benefit of less packaging that's all recyclable is a nice bonus, too).

Last night, I was on a pudding quest. I wanted vegan pudding to use in melted chocolate: an attempt to make vegan truffles without marzipan. If the pudding was too thick, I could thin it with rice or soy milk. No problem. I went to the co-op that carries prepared vegan puddings, found the right shelf.... and it was bare. Empty. Completely lacking pudding. Just next to that gaping space there were mixes, and in my desire to truffle-ize, I decided it shouldn't be too much more effort to make some pudding myself. Pareve, check. Vegan, check. I debated the two options, chocolate or vanilla, and opted for chocolate; that way I could flavor the truffles as I wished.

Once I got home, I started the pudding. Two cups of non-milk (rice rather than soy, just because it was there), the powder from the box, and start stirring. This gave me far too much time to look at the box. SuperPudding (their emphasis, not mine), by Hain. The logo on the front says "Hain Pure Foods", but the copyright notice is for The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. Somehow that makes me think of Chinese myths or something. I can't picture old Chinese Mandarins eating pudding, though: too sweet, not enough nuances of flavor, and not an interesting texture, either. The other strange part of the packaging is a banner on the front: "HEY! Read my label!" No explanation of why this product's label, more than any other, is deserving of your attention. Actually, it starts to sound like a back-alley come on.

The mixture boils, I take it off the heat, let it cool, then put it in the fridge. Four hours later, I have... well, definitely-thicker-than-milk chocolate substance. A bit of it has made it to pudding consistency, but mostly, it's liquid. Feh. I wonder if using soy milk rather than rice milk would've made a difference.

There wasn't time to come up with something else before I went to bed, so I whacked a lump of chcolate off the huge bar, and melted it. I added some of the non-pudding to it, to temper it, and the chocolate acted similarly to what I'd expect had I added cream, which was good. I'd decided to use orange flower water to flavor the batch, but when I pulled the bottle out, it smelled unpleasant, not orangey at all. I definitely wasn't going to risk ruining a batch of truffles with that smell. I didn't want to repeat rose water (it was rather strong), and some people don't like alcohol-based flavors. I looked in the fridge, looking for inspiration, which came in the form of Pesach leftovers. I hadn't quite finished the jar of apricot jam-which-was-really-jelly (since they hadn't included any fruit). Apricot and chocolate sounded good. I swirled in a few spoons of it, made sure it melted completely, and set the truffle guts aside to solidify for a day. A quick taste this morning, partway through, and it seems to have worked out alright. *sigh of relief*

Tonight, I form the chocolate into spheres, and roll them in either powdered sugar or sweetened cocoa powder (unsweetened is too harsh as a first taste, to me).

Comments

[pinkfish.livejournal.com]

When most people cook like this ("I started out wanting to do this, but I couldn't do that, so I substituted this, and there wasn't any that, and besides, some people won't eat this, so instead of this thing I tried that thing, and ...") what they usually come up with barely passes as food, and is not the slightest bit palatable. How did you manage to get something that might actually be, *nice*?

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Gustator's tongue. Runs in the family.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've never quite understood how people end up with things that *aren't* nice.

That sounds arrogant, I guess, but there are things that go together, and things that don't, and the exceptions, and...
Or, I think about, read about food far too much of the time. It's the easiest medium for creativity, too.

[magid.livejournal.com]

*grin*

Level three Tongue of Gustator. I like that.

[bitty.livejournal.com]

found the right shelf.... and it was bare. Empty.

D'oh! Well, at least I pointed you in the right direction theoretically, right?

[pinkfish.livejournal.com]

I feel that I have a gustator's tongue, though not by heredity, instead from years of practice. In a well-equipt kitchen, I can do lots of interesting things.

The real problem is the influence of the outside world; you had it a bit with the rice vs. soy milk. No matter what your tongue, you can't make a rice milk from a soy's ear.

I don't end up with too many flops (there was one horribly bland dish I did a few weeks back, I forget how). I guess my gustator's tongue just leaves me abandonning projects of this sort, if I can't find something that might work.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Yup. Lack of planning on their part not being a lack of directions on your part.
Or something like that :-).

[magid.livejournal.com]

I sometimes wish I had a better equipt kitchen, actually. Knives are a goodness, but sometimes a food processor, or a mandoline, or custard cups, or a toaster, or a waffle iron, or whatever the latest thing is, seems very appealing. Then I think again and wonder where I'd put it!

No matter what your tongue, you can't make a rice milk from a soy's ear.
*very appreciative groan*

I guess I end up thinking about what I want to make enough in advance that although I definitely end up with things that need tweaking (well, some of that is my habitual lack of using measuring spoons, either...), usually it's reasonably good, or what I thought it would be (there are days I want starchy blandness, I admit).

I've been finding more and more recently that food seems to be falling into templates for me. Pasta: varies by sauce, by shape, cheese/no, which veggies, wheat/other, etc, but it's the same basic idea for a dish. Ditto stir-fries, or frittatas, or chicken with rice/other grain, or bread. Lots of permutations possible on the main idea, and in the right (untired) mood, there never seems to be an end to the possibilities....

[pinkfish.livejournal.com]

The "Iron Chef" model can be a fun impetus to creativity. You know, pick some ingredient, and see how many different things you can do with it. D and I once did an "eggplant challenge". We did it in my kitchen, so I had the advantage. And we did most of the dishes collaboratively anyway. The crowning touch was the eggplant ice cream sauce, which got a resounding thumbs up from the judge (fj). It was so good, I have even done it again.

Here's the "recipe", as best I can remember.


Eggplant ice cream sauce

the leftover bits from the inside of the eggplant - seeds, pulp, whatever, chopped fine. As much as you can spare from your other eggplant dish. This makes a nice accompaniment for stuffed eggplant, so you can do something with all the stuff you take out of the eggplant so that you can stuff it.

water to cover

honey
whole cloves
ground cinnamon
ground cardamom
corn starch
pinch of salt

the amounts of all these things are hard to pin down, and depend on how much eggplant you start with.

Boil all ingredients except starch in a shallow pan, adding water to keep moist and bubbling. Boil for nearly an hour (while you make your other dishes). Adjust ground spices to taste. Near the end, take some of the fluid and mix it with a small amount of corn starch, then add back into the mixture. Return to a boil until the liquid gets a bit syrupy. Remove the whole cloves before serving.

Serve over ice cream, piping hot from the pan. I have always served it over vanilla ice cream, but feel free to try other flavors!



The eggplant boils down quite a lot, so start with more than you think you'll need.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I believe Rikchik put an Iron Chef challenge as part of the MIT (dang, blanking on name) puzzle weekend. I asked him which ingredients they had as (randomly-chosen) options; all I remember was mango, but there were some other good ones too.

I'm impressed at your eggplant-osity. I don't know that I would've ever come up with it. Second thought: I never would've, since I tend to not make stuffed vegetables. Weird, I know, but the only things I like stuffed are meat (chicken, turkey, breast of veal...). Though I like eggplant (and peppers, and zukes, and all the other traditionally stuffed veggies), I don't care for them stuffed. Maybe an unfortunate incident with an uncuttable pepper when young... Exception: grape leaves. Yum.

Your recipe sounds pretty good. My first inclination is to include minced sweet onion as well, but I think that's a holdover from another eggplant dish I make, which I've dubbed eggplant mush. Much more appetizing than it sounds (saute onions and eggplant cubes over low heat forever, until mushy, then add szechuan spicy sauce, and perhaps a bit of honey).

But that doesn't really offer something completely unexpected, like your recipe. I shall have to think on that, something turning up somewhere it traditionally doesn't.

*screams in horror* *flees*

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

*twitch* That reminds me of Whipped Avocado Dessert. Though it could just be the name . . . on the other hand, I find eggplant to usually be a non-food.

Re: *screams in horror* *flees*

[magid.livejournal.com]

So, should I not mention that there's a cookbook called Vegetable Desserts, with chapters based on which vegetable is used (beans, beets, corn, potatoes, carrots, etc etc etc)?

Of course, I enjoy eggplant, so perhaps I'm warped..

Re: *screams in horror* *flees*

[pinkfish.livejournal.com]

Does Vegetable Desserts have a recipe for Eggplant Ice Cream sauce? Actually, if I had an ice cream freezer, it occurs to me that this sauce could be used to flavor the ice cream itself, resulting in a yummy eggplant ice cream.

Re: *screams in horror* *flees*

[magid.livejournal.com]

Strangely, I believe it does not. You may be the first to have created this. Perhaps you should rename it, make it eponymous?

And how can it be that the well-equipt kitchen is ice-cream-maker-free? Shocking, indeed!
*grin*

Re: *screams in horror* *flees*

[pinkfish.livejournal.com]

Actually, I never claimed that my kitchen is well-equipt; just that in a well-equipt kitchen, I can do interesting things. Mine is reasonably well-equipt, though fj puts a moratorium on new devices until we have solve the shelving problem enough to have places to put them. The ice cream freezer is actually high on his list of things to have.

If I do make it eponymous, I will have to include my co-conspirator's name in it. Dean and Dvora's Eggplant Ice-cream sauce? Maybe just D&D's eggplant ice-cream sauce?

Re: *screams in horror* *flees*

[magid.livejournal.com]

And you don't even have two sets of everything to fit into your kitchen, either. I start to feel better about my lack of kitchen equipment that most seem to find indispensible.

I know of people with freezers or (telephone booth sized) wine storage units in their living rooms, another with a chest freezer in a bedroom. Surely, there must be room for some shelves so you can finally make the ice cream of your dreams?

Oh, and "D&D's eggplant ice-cream sauce" makes me wonder if I'll find a dragon claw or a bit of ogre in there as well as the eggplant...

PS

[magid.livejournal.com]

They seem to have gone over rather well, actually. Not the best truffles I've ever made, but quite acceptable.

*twitch*

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

No. No, you should not. Urk - too late.

Re: *screams in horror* *flees*

[magid.livejournal.com]

OK, I was just browsing old food posts, and happened upon this... now that you have an ice cream maker, any plans to make eggplant ice cream?

Re: *screams in horror* *flees*

[pinkfish.livejournal.com]

Funny you should ask. In fact, I did just that about a month ago. There might even be an LJ post that mentions it obliquely (possibly in fj's journal).

The recipe is almost exactly the same as for the sauce, but leave out the corn starch (you don't need to thicken it). Also, I used some of the skin from the eggplant, to give the whole thing that lovely purple color.

I left in chunks of eggplant, because I like chunks of fruit in my ice cream; fj does not, so he would have opted against that.

It got compliments from some of the diners, but not all. It is a bit of an aquired taste, I think. I loved it (as did glass_diva, who is the Dvora mentioned above).