Easiest Chocolate Pudding

This is the easiest chocolate pudding ever and you make it with Paneer!  Just blend together everything till smooth and chill. This chocolate pudding is so simple and so fast it’s perfect as a last-minute dessert for those hurried, un-planned events which is how it always is for me – hurried, harried and totally un-planned. The original recipe in Mark Bittman’s “How to cook Everything” actually calls for Tofu but I couldn’t find Tofu in that store and I had no time to go check at another store. So I used Paneer instead and it tastes just as great. Just make sure to use absolutely fresh and soft Paneer or Tofu if you want a smooth pudding. If the Paneer/Tofu is a little old or tough, then the pudding can get grainy. My cousin and her little daughters were visiting us the next day and I made this pudding the night before, but you can very easily make it just an hour before you’re going to serve them. This chocolate pudding is that fast, fresh and simple. Whew! Got the tagline into the post somehow, Sapana! 

Check out Sapana’s Donna Hay inspired event – “Fast, Fresh and Simple” at her blog for lots of fast, fresh and simple recipes. This recipe goes straight to her event. This recipe also goes to Srivalli's summer special mela.

I always start with dessert (am slightly paranoid about desserts) and get it out of the way before I start other things. If dessert comes out fine, everything else will work out fine. That’s just my belief. This chocolate pudding keeps extremely well in the fridge for even a week. I added gelatin to the pudding as I didn’t want any nasty surprises with runny pudding the next day but the original recipe doesn’t call for gelatin and you could actually try without the gelatin, because my pudding was quite thick and I guess would have set just as well without the gelatin. If you are not using gelatin, just make sure to add the sugar syrup little at a time and blend so that you can control the consistency of the pudding. When it’s quite thick and spoonable and creamy, stop adding sugar syrup. Spoon into individual serving dishes and chill.

Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 5-8 mins
Serves: 12

Ingredients

Paneer (cottage cheese) or soft Tofu - 400 gm
Melted chocolate (Bittersweet or semisweet) chopped– 200 gm
Sugar syrup – 1 cup
Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
Gelatin - 1 tsp (optional)
Grated chocolate – 20 gm

Method

1.      Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Set aside to cool.

2.      Combine one cup sugar and one cup water in a pan and let it come to a boil. Let it boil for 1-2 minutes by which time the water would have turned syrupy and sticky to the touch. The sugar syrup won’t be thick. It need not be. Switch off and let cool.

3.      In a small bowl, take one tablespoon of water and add the gelatin. Let stand for a minute. Then microwave or place inside a pan of simmering water and stir till the gelatin dissolves. Set aside.

4.      In a mixie/blender, blend together the paneer/tofu, melted chocolate, vanilla essence and sugar syrup till smooth. Add the sugar syrup a little at a time to adjust the consistency of the pudding especially if you’re not going to add gelatin. Once the mixture is smooth, add the gelatin and blend again.

5.      Pour into individual serving dishes and chill for 4 hours. Top with grated chocolate and serve or chill till serving time.