This Japanese Milk Pudding with Strawberry Sauce is creamy, milky and mildly sweet. With the sweet and sour strawberry sauce, every bite is heavenly! This dessert brings me right back to Japan.
We have been back from vacation in Japan for a few weeks now. We had an absolute blast. For our previous Japan trips, they were usually a few days to a week. We felt that it was not enough time. This time, we were there for 12 days, and I can say that we left satisfying and exhausted. We walked so much and ate even more.
This dessert recipe is inspired by the trip. We walked by this dessert shop in the subway station and decided to pick up 2 cups of pudding back to our hotel. One pudding was Purin (Japanese Caramel Custard Pudding) and the other one was this milk flavored pudding with raspberry sauce that reminded me of Panna Cotta.
After some digging through the internet, I realized this pudding is called “Milk Pudding”. We really enjoyed that, so I recreated at home. It’s pretty easy to make and it tasted fantastic.
The star of this dessert is milk. So start with good tasting milk. In Japan, Hokkaido milk is the go-to milk. It’s rich, sweet and a mild vanilla flavor. But in the US, use any milk that you think it’s creamy, rich and milky. I used Organic Valley. To boost the milk flavor, I also added dry milk powder. And that really did the trick to make the milk flavor more pronounced.
To start, mix a little cold milk with gelatin powder. Give 10 minutes for the gelatin to bloom (hydrate). Then combine the rest of the milk, little bit of heavy cream, sugar and milk powder in a saucepan. Cook and whisk until warm through and everything has dissolved. Pour the mixture into serving containers and chill in the fridge for a few hours. That’s the pudding.
Now, the sauce. Strawberries are in season, and I like the little sour & sweet combo. The sauce is great balance to the creamy pudding. It adds an extra layer of flavors to the dessert. First, cut the strawberries into little cubes, then combine with sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature in a heatproof container, and chill in the fridge until cold. Scoop about 1 tablespoon of sauce over the pudding right before serving. One thing to keep in mind is not to add too much sauce, because it can overwhelm the mild flavor of the pudding. Start with a little bit and add more when needed.
This pudding is not the American type of pudding. It’s more like a Panna Cotta. It’s smooth, creamy and mildly sweet with the flavor of milk. Balance with fruity strawberries, you have a really nice dessert to end the day. We loved it! Hope you do too!
Japanese Milk Pudding with Strawberry Sauce
Ingredients
Milk Pudding:
- 2¼ cups whole milk (divided)
- 1 packet unflavored gelatin (0.25-ounce)
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup dry milk powder (low-fat or non-fat)
Strawberry Sauce:
- 8 ounces fresh strawberries
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- Zest of ½ lemon
- ½ tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Prepare 4 (1-cup) containers.
- In a small bowl, add 1/4 cup cold milk. Sprinkle the gelatin over and whisk for 10 seconds. Set aside for 10 minutes to soften.
- In a medium saucepan, combine 2 cups milk, heavy cream, sugar, milk powder and soften gelatin. Cook over medium-low heat until warm through, and everything has dissolved, whisking occasionally, about a few minutes. Do not bring to a simmer or boil.
- Divide the mixture into the containers. Chill uncovered in the fridge until set, at least 4 hours. Cover with plastic wrap once cooled.
- For the strawberry sauce, wash the strawberries, pat dry, hull and cut into 1/4-inch cubes.
- In a small non-reactive saucepan, add strawberries, sugar, lemon zest & lemon juice. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
- Carefully transfer the sauce to clean heat-proof containers or glass jars (with lid). Cool to room temperature. Cover with lid and store in the fridge.
- To serve, add a heaping tablespoon of strawberry sauce on top of each cup of pudding. Serve cold. Add more sauce if needed.
Notes
- Milk is the star of this dessert, so use a good tasting milk. I used Organic Valley. It’s creamy and sweet.
- Dry milk powder can be found at most grocery store. I used Milkman low-fat milk powder.
- 1 serving is about ¾ cup of pudding. If you like, you can divide the mixture into 6 servings too, which will be about ½ cup for each serving.
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