Ginger milk pudding or ginger milk curd is a very popular Chinese dessert made by ginger juice, milk and sugar. It is a magic dessert you will love after the first trying.
To make this pudding, we do not need any other curd agent like gelatin or agar-agar. With the help of the natural coagulant- ginger protease, milk can form into smooth curd quickly after combination. The pudding has a very smooth texture with a slight touch of ginger juice.
Cooks’ Note
After several failed attempts, I finally get the points and make the perfect ginger milk curd and serve them as a after meal dessert. It is the simplest and quick dessert in my mind now.
- Get juice from older ginger: older gingers are rich in ginger protease, which plays the most important role for the curding process. And make sure your ginger juice is freshly squeezed.
- Use whole milk with at least 3.5% fat: or adding some baking milk powder can help to improve the fat content.
- Right pouring temperature: the best mixing temperature is around 70 degree. But lower temperature creates better texture. So I use 65 degree C (150 degree F).
- For a better mixing, shake the ginger juice before pouring milk.
Ingredients:
- 400ml whole milk
- 1 tbsp. fresh ginger juice
- 2 tbsp. sugar to taste
- 1 tbsp. milk baking powder (optional)
Instructions:
Use a small spoon and peel the ginger skin off and then grate with the finest grater (or finely minced). Transfer to a very fine-mesh strainer and then press with spoon to squeeze the juice out. Place half of fresh ginger juice in each two serving bowls.
Heat milk over the slowest fire and dissolve sugar and milk powder if you are using. Continue heating until around 90 degree C or just boiling. Move away from heat and wait for 1-2 minutes until the temperature drops around 65 to 70 degree C.
Slightly shake the serving bowls and then pour the milk quickly to the serving bowls. Recommend pouring from higher places so ginger juice can well mixed with milk.
Then cover and set aside for 5 minutes. They can be serve directly as a hot dessert or a cold dessert after chilled or cooled down.
If you love to make pudding for summer days, check Chinese mango pudding and coconut milk pudding too.
Ginger Milk Pudding
Ingredients
- 400 ml whole milk
- 1 tbsp. fresh ginger juice
- 2 tbsp. sugar to taste
- 1 tbsp. milk baking powder , optional
Instructions
- Use a small spoon and peel the ginger skin off and then grate with the finest grater (or finely minced). Transfer to a very fine-mesh strainer and then press with spoon to squeeze the juice out. Place half of the fresh ginger juice in each two serving bowls.
- Heat milk over the slowest fire and dissolve sugar and milk powder if you are using. Continue heating until around 90 degree C or just boiling. Move away from heat and wait for 1-2 minutes until the temperature drops around 65 to 70 degree C.
- Slightly shake the serving bowls and then pour the milk quickly to the serving bowls. Recommend pouring from higher places so ginger juice can well mixed with milk.
- Then cover and set aside for 5 minutes. They can be serve directly as a hot dessert or a cold dessert after chilled or cooled down.
Nutrition
Happy cooking, if you make yummy dishes with Elaine’s recipe. You can tag #chinasichuanfood and send me a photo on Instagram. I love your brilliant works.
I think some the pudding that are not setting up properly are confusing your temperature measurement. The recipe is written in Celsius, so convert the temo to Fahrenheit (it is converted in the step by step but not in the written recipe). Pour and combine at 150F.
Missa,
I have list the best temperature 150F in the previous cooks’ note section.
Fabulous recipe, like some sort of delicious witchcraft using simple ingredients! I added brown sugar and vanilla, and the result was warm, silky and sweet. I will be making it again! Many thanks.
Hi, Jam
thanks for your praise，and attempt of yours is really wonderful
I can attest that the temperature of the milk made a huge difference. I made two bowls with the same pot of milk, one turned out liquid and the other one set. Difference was that after I poured the first bowl, I let it rest in the stove while I continued grating more ginger for the second bowl.
If you don’t have a thermometer like me, the milk beginning to curdle in the pot is a good indicator that it is the right the right temperature.
I tried grating and pressing the ginger juice but there were barely any. I resorted to pouring the milk over the finely minced ginger over the sift. Worked quite well! Thanks for the recipe!
I agree that temperature of the milk is the first key factor of a successful ginger milk pudding.
Have you ever tried with half-and-half? Would it turn out in better quality because of the high-fat content?
Have not used half half for ginger milk, so I am sorry I cannot provide accurate answer.
I would love to try this but I cannot stand the taste of ginger.
Why am I like this?
No, this will not be a good try if you don’t like the taste of ginger.
Thank you so much for your swift and kind reply!
This is the best blog in the world
Magic always happens in kitchen. I enjoyed the process so much too.
In the ingredients it calls for 1 tbsp of ginger juice, but the instructions say 2 tsp each in the two bowls. 1 tbsp = 3 tsp so do we need 2, 3, or 4 tsp??
Carrie,
That’s a calculation error from me. Still need 1 tablespoon of ginger juice and divide into two portions, separately in two bowls.
The taste was of this delicious! However, I am not sure if I made it properly, there was quite a bit of water separated from the smooth milk part, is this normal?
Amelia, pour your milk higher next time to make sure the ginger and milk is well combined.
Will do! Thank you for your reply 🙂
My pleasure. Happy cooking!
I tried the recipe again and it worked perfectly! I added milk powder this time and made sure the temperature was accurate and ginger was well mixed. The texture was amazing and I love the ginger flavour. Thank you for the recipe!
Thank you Amelia for your lovely feedback!!
Glad to know that you had some failed attempts. I made this for the first time and it did not curdle. So sad because I was so looking forward.
Will try again with hopefully better luck.
Change the ginger juice and try the way of pouring the milk. Read the post carefully about the details and follow to word.
I’m not sure what magic step I’m missing, but I have tried this recipe at least 6-8 times now and have never been able to get mine to set or even get the weird grain-like curdles some of the commenters have complained about. I have a high-end thermometer that can measure in both Celsius and Fahrenheit. I got my milk to exactly 65 C./150 F. mixed the freshly pressed ginger juice before pouring and then never touched it again. I’ve tried using fresh ginger and old ginger, as recommended. And I’ve done it with and without the milk powder. In my latest attempt, I replaced 2 tbs of milk with cream to increase the fat content, wondering if perhaps my whole milk was at a lower fat ratio, and that’s why it wasn’t working. That did get me slightly better results, but still far from being a pudding. I’ve also played with the temperature and the types of sugar I use, but nope, not even one curdled grain. I know this is an old, tried, and true dessert, but if I didn’t, I would truly think this a joke recipe. However… I must say I have truly grown to appreciate and enjoy a cup of warm ginger milk, it’s my new favorite beverage, even more so than hot chocolate. So that’s why this is still 3 stars for me, but if anyone knows how to solve the mystery of the not setting pudding, please let me know! I really want to get this to work lol ( :
The concentration of ginger juice may be the key point, sometimes it also depends on the variety of ginger.