Learn how to make eggless butter pudding with a few easy ingredients, including bread, to get a delicious pudding that’s perfect to serve guests or at a potluck party. The recipe includes bread but since it is blended into the pudding for texture, I am not calling this a bread and butter pudding.
It’s tough coming back from a long break to anything and although I have been missing this website and cooking and writing about food, I am so rusty! It took me a few minutes to even figure out the new WordPress layout and editor. But, heading back home to Kottayam always sparks my inspiration, especially my Amma’s inspiration to keep trying something new.
She had bookmarked this eggless butter pudding recipe from an Instagram page and bought all ingredients and kept them ready for me to arrive and make it together. How could I not take pictures and share the results here? We had guests throughout the week we were there and the butter pudding was all gone in a day!
Table of Contents
Ingredients
- The ingredients in this pudding are pretty straightforward and easily available, especially in an Indian kitchen, or anywhere, really.
- We add some bread to the pudding to make it more richer without adding too many calories. I loved the texture, it feels like an egg pudding but slightly more runnier and is perfect to scoop up from a pudding bowl. Yum!
- The crushed nuts on top of the pudding is critical to balance the texture of the pudding. Since the base of the pudding is more gloopy, the nuts add crunch to balance this, making it instantly amazing in its mouthfeel. Do not skip or skimp on the nuts, you all!
- Milk and custard powder, simple, easy, you know them.
- Butter, because that’s important in a butter pudding, eh?
- Now, china grass or agar agar sheets may cause some raised eyebrows if you are not familiar with them. It’s a plant-based alternative to gelatine and very easily available in supermarkets. If you are unable to find sheets, just use the powdered version. I haven’t tried this but the same measurement should work. Do leave a comment if you try this?
Tips and Tricks
- Normally with any recipe, I get asked about substitutes. This recipe has quite straightforward ingredients so nothing much to swap out, I’d assume.
- Regarding the bread, day-old white bread is what I used. Make sure to remove the crusts for ease of blending. You could use any other type of bread too, just make sure it’s not a savoury one with spices or herbs in it.
- Condensed milk can be any brand, doesn’t matter. One of the best things Amma does is to buy the can size based on how much we need. So for this recipe, since it calls for 200 grams condensed milk, she bought a 200 grams can. This is not always possible outside India though, however, leftover condensed milk is a source of stress to me personally!
- Always keep cooking temperature low and stir frequently when cooking with custard. The mixture will thicken in an instant and go to a hardened mess if not handled gently and thoroughly. That’s probably the only “tricky” part in this recipe if you are complete newbie but do not worry. You can do it!
- Greasing the pan helps to release the pudding easier. If you don’t get neat squares that are thick enough, not to worry. Just scoop gently into a bowl, add more crushed nuts or even chopped dried fruits on top and serve cold. It will surely be enjoyed!
If you love eggless dessert recipes, I have a whole bunch of them on the blog. Take a look at some of my favourites and most popular ones loved by you all – eggless mango cheesecake, tender coconut pudding, fruit custard recipe.
Eggless Butter Pudding
Ingredients
- 4 teaspoons vanilla custard powder
- 6 grams china grass or agar agar
- 1/2 cup water
- 500 ml milk
- 100 grams unsalted butter cut into chunks
- 200 grams condensed milk
- 4 slices bread crusts removed (see notes)
- 1/3 cup unsalted nuts almonds, cashew nuts, anything you have in hand
- A pinch salt
Instructions
- Mix the custard powder with enough milk from the 500 ml we have measured out, to make a loose mixture without lumps. Set aside
- Heat water in a pan and add the china grass. Mix till it dissolves and becomes lighter. No need to dissolve fully, we will be cooking it later.
- Remove this to a bowl and set aside
- Add rest of the milk to pan on low heat
- Add the china grass mixture first
- Then, add the butter and condensed milk
- Mix frequently keeping the pan on low flame until the butter has fully dissolved
- Now add the salt and custard powder mixture to this and stir continuously, maintaining the heat low
- When the mixture thickens a bit (see picture below), turn off heat and add the bread slides, roughly torn up
- Give everything a good mix and set aside to cool completely
- In the meantime, powder the nuts coarsely and set aside
- When the milk mixture has fully cooled, blend to a smooth paste. It will be thick when you transfer to the blender but will become pouring consistency after blending
- Pour into a tray greased with butter
- Garnish with the powdered nuts generously, forming an even layer on top of the pudding
- Cover and refrigerate for about 4 hours
- Cut and serve chilled with more powdered nuts on top if desired
Notes
- The bread slices in India tend to be smaller than what we see in other parts of the world. I didn’t weigh the bread but you can see rough size in pictures. Add lesser if you find the bread is large or a lot. Exact measurements are not critical for bread in this recipe anyway
- This pudding is not firm and slice-able beyond forming a loose square. Please expect this consistency and don’t be disappointed if not
- I haven’t tried avoiding any one ingredient completely, like the china grass. If you want to try thickening just with custard powder, you can try it. Please let me know if you do!
- Cashew nuts, pistachio, almonds etc can be used for the top of the pudding. Some shaved chocolate may be nice too, in addition to the nuts. Tutti frutti would make a lovely addition as well.
Step by Step Photos to make Butter Pudding
Mix the custard powder with enough milk from the 500 ml we have measured out to make the pudding and make a loose mixture like below. Whisk well so there are no lumps. Adding milk little at a time helps with this. Set aside until needed.
Heat water in a pan until very hot and add the china grass. Turn off heat and mix till it dissolves somewhat and becomes lighter.
The china grass doesn’t need to fully dissolve, just like the picture below is fine. We will be cooking this later in the milk mixture. Remove this to a bowl and set aside.
To the same pan on low heat, add the rest of the milk. Add the butter cut into chunks.
Next, add the condensed milk.
Mix everything together on low heat until the butter full dissolves. Then, add the china grass mixture to this. Remember to maintain the heat low and stir frequently.
Add some salt and the custard powder mixture to this as well. Stir continuously from this point on, the mixture will thicken quickly and we don’t want any lumps.
Cook on low heat stirring constantly until the mixture thickens to something like the below consistency. The time will depend, obviously, but it took me about 4 minutes to get here.
Turn off heat at this point. Prepare the bread slides by removing the crusts. You can see the size of the slices we used below. They are quite small so adjust the quantity accordingly based on the bread you are using. The exact measurement is not critical in this recipe but don’t add too much.
Roughly tear the bread slices and add to the cooked pudding mixture.
Give everything a good mix and set side to cool completely. The bread doesn’t need to dissolve or anything. The slices will absorb the milk and get soft on their own. Set aside to cool completely.
While the pudding mixture cools, coarsely powder the nuts for garnish.
Once cool, transfer to a blender and give it all a whizz to a smooth consistency. The mixture will be thick before blending but loosen up a lot to pouring consistency when you are done.
Grease a tray and pour the pudding mixture into it. See what I mean about the consistency?
Garnish generously with powdered nuts (we used just almonds this time) and refrigerate covered for about 4 hours.
Slice and serve chilled!
Recipe adapted from Mid vlogs.
Looks very interesting! Will try this over the weekend. Happy New Year to you and yours 🎉
Thank you, Happy New Year!
I like this pudding, v.nice and yummy