Vanilla Green Tea Pudding

Creamy vanilla pudding with a hint of green tea topped with sliced strawberries and mint. Easy to make with just a few ingredients, this vanilla green tea pudding may appear simple but tastes delicious. 

I love the taste of green tea. There’s something about the flavor that’s settle but very appealing. If you’re a fan of green tea (like me), this will be the perfect dessert for you. With just a hint of green tea and a lot of vanilla, this pudding is really bursting with flavor. Topped with strawberries and mint, it looks simple yet elegant, a great dessert for when you’re entertaining guests.

I actually wasn’t planning on making this pudding with green tea. Originally, it was just going to be vanilla pudding, but I wanted it to be a little bit different. Since I recently bought green tea powder for another recipe (a cookie disaster), I thought I could put it to good use.

As you can see from the photo above, there’s not too much of a difference in color between vanilla green tea pudding (left) and vanilla pudding (right).

If you prefer a pure vanilla pudding, just omit the green tea powder. It’ll taste just as delicious.

In case you’re wondering… that dark spot at the tip of the strawberry isn’t a bug. It’s the seeds of the strawberry. I didn’t notice that it was fell off until I started eating and checked my photos… Too late. Oops.

Green tea powder isn’t cheap. The one I bought at an Asian market was about $7-8 for a small container, but it goes a long way. Believe me. You don’t need much to get the flavor. =)

First, mix together sugar, corn starch, and green tea powder. You want to mix it so that all ingredients appear evenly distributed.

The picture below only shows the sugar and the corn starch, I know. It’s because half way through I decided I wanted to add green tea powder.

Add in cold water and mix until all the powder dissolves. If there’s not enough water to completely dissolve all the cornstarch and green tea powder, add about a teaspoon more cold water. It’s important that you use cold water because it helps dissolves the cornstarch. If you use hot water, it will start to clump up, and it’ll be almost impossible to break them apart. You’ll end up with lumpy pudding. Sometimes people add cornstarch directly into the milk and quickly stir, but in my experience, it’s better to dissolve it first before putting it into something hot.

In a small pot, heat milk over low and remember to constantly stir to prevent the milk from sticking to the pot. You want low heat because you don’t want the milk to burn. Once you start to notice tiny bubbles in the milk (the beginning of boiling), stir the cornstarch, sugar, and green tea mixture to make sure there’s no powder. Slowly pour the mixture into the milk and stir the milk while you do so. If the cornstarch remains in one place too long, it’ll start to stick together.

You can see in the photo below that the green tea powder didn’t quite dissolve. You want to make sure all the powder to dissolve so that the pudding turns out smooth.

Add in the vanilla extract.

If there’s a skin forming over the mixture, you can use a spoon to scoop it off. You can see that it’s starting to form in the photo below.

Don’t let the milk boil. Just keep it warm enough that the cornstarch starts to make the milk thicken. Continue to stir to keep the cornstarch from sticking to the pot. The pudding is done when it has thickened enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove the pot from heat.

Allow it to cool for a few minutes and then divide it into small cups or bowls.

Allow the pudding to cool for a few minutes. Then cover the cup/bowl and chill in the refrigerator for about 45-60 minutes.

Once the pudding has chilled and is ready to be served, chop up a large strawberry into thin slices. Top the puddings with 2-3 slices. Add mint for garnish.

Serve the puddings cold and enjoy!

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