This Chinese Ginger Milk Pudding Is A Healthy Dessert Choice

Originating from Shunde District, Guangzhou in the Guangdong Province in southern China. This local Cantonese dessert is famous in certain parts of China, both for its yummy fresh taste, easy recipe and its health benefits. The local name actually translates into ‘ginger bumping into milk’ which perfectly describes how simple it is to make. The area from which this dessert originates is famous for its rich buffalo milk which is high in natural fats, lactose, protein, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Although the dessert is more often made with cows milk these days, the benefits of buffalo milk were a huge factor in creating this pudding. 

There’s a little bit of kitchen chemistry that goes into creating this pudding since there are no added thickeners of gelatins that go into the process. It’s simply the reaction between the fresh ginger juice and the milk that causes the thick pudding texture. Ginger contains protease enzyme zingipain and when added to milk, this protease reacts with the proteins in the milk in a process called denaturation. That changes the proteins from their water-soluble form to the water-insoluble form which makes milk curdle and set. 

Ingredients

• 400 ml whole milk
• 1 tbsp. fresh ginger juice
• 2 tbsp. sugar to taste
• 1 tbsp. milk powder

Method

• Peel the ginger and grate it very fine so that it’s almost a paste. 
• Pass it through a very fine sieve to get all the fresh juice out and divide it between two ramekins.
• Heat some milk over a very low flame and then dissolve the sugar and milk powder in it.
• Heat to around 90 C and then remove from the heat and let it cool to 70 C.
• Make sure the ginger is evenly distributed around the base of the ramekins and then pour in the milk from a height.
• Cover and let it set for 5-10 minutes and it should form a smooth, thick texture. 
• You can serve it warm or put it in the fridge and serve later.