09 January 2014

Supermarkets of Mystery ~ Puddings and jellies - taro, black sesame, green tea

Puddings and jellies are fun food. It was always a special night when there was jelly for dessert, usually with ice cream and tinned fruit. So finding so many new varieties of jelly and pudding flavours to try in the supermarket unleashed the inner kid in us and we had to try them.



One of the first things you notice when you make these is the bright colour of the food. Green, purple, black or bright pink, they are a riot of colour. The other side of them is their sweetness, some of these mixes are really super sweet to boot. There isn't too much natural about these packets of sugar and flavours.



First up is a Korean black sesame porridge. While not called a pudding, it was probably the closest to a more sweet and savoury style that is popular in Asia.



The big surprise here was the porridge was already made inside the box, not a packet mix that needed to be mixed up. It even came with a plastic spoon so you could eat it straight away. Love the picture of the mum mixing up the pudding for the hungry kids.



The next surprise was just how deeply, inky black the pudding was. The sesame had a strong flavour as well, not too sweet. This would have worked well with some rice cake dumplings.



Taro is one of our favourite sweet flavours, especially made as an ice cream. (You could probably work out some way to churn these puddings to make an incredible ice cream.) This sweet packet is for a milk style pudding. It's suitable for lacto-vegetarians as it doesn't contain gelatine.



Inside the box is one single silver packet.



You need a bowl, 600ml of hot water and a whisk or fork to dissolve the powder. Although the packet instructions say to use a saucepan, I found a bowl to work out fine.



The powder had a sweet milky smell, really pleasant.



Pour in the hot water and whisk to dissolve.



My pudding ended up a little frothy from the whisking. Let cool and then you can let it set in the fridge. It had already started to set even before it was completely cooled.



Next up is a green tea jelly. This one is pure vegetarian, vegan even as it doesn't use any animal products at all. According to the ingredients listed the setting agent comes from Carrageenan and Kantn Powder, both seaweed extracts.



Same foil packet inside.



Add 600ml of water and stir well. If you want a thicker jelly, use less water, and more for a more runny version.



Beautiful brown / green jelly! Cool for at least an hour and then set in the fridge.



The photo doesn't really bring out the real purpleness of the taro, but the green jelly is a true colour.

These jelly packets are quite common in a lot of Asian grocery stores. The Korean sesame pudding we found at a supermarket in Hornsby, on the quiet side of the railway line.

6 comments:

  1. Yum! I recently tried a packet pudding similar to these - it was matcha flavour, and I made it with a touch of cream, lovely.There were a few other flavours to work through, can't decide whether to try the black sesame or almond pudding next

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    1. That does sound yum! I have some of the matcha powder and have been tempted to make my own, especially so it's not so sweet.

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  2. Really wish there was a Korean grocer near me :(

    Welcome back, btw!!

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    1. Thanks for the welcome back. Getting a few places ready for the next few posts and glad to be back. I've seen some of the jellies in grocers but not the sesame pudding.

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  3. Welcome back. Been waiting for your post every single day ...
    We tried a different brand for the green tea (from Asian grocery, no doubt) - they're actually very refreshing on a summer day!!!

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  4. Love black sesame soup/pudding. My grandma used to make it from scratch and alas no version has ever come close since.

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Thanks for your comment joy - please keep your musings happy - if you want to complain about a restaurant please do it on a restaurant review site (or your own blog) - we're all about celebrating cultural diversity and the great eats that come along with it :-)

Our ethics: We pay for all our own meals and travel (though sometimes Mum shouts us).