Oat Milk Chocolate Pudding

I used to clip recipes all the time, back when I was an ambitious young cook. But these days, I don’t have the patience for complicated, time-consuming recipes. If I don’t already have most of the ingredients on hand, forget it.

This oat milk chocolate pudding recipe from The New York Times caught my eye not just because it’s dairy-free, but because it’s so easy to make. The whole process took less than fifteen minutes. I didn’t have to buy anything, since all the ingredients were already in my kitchen, including the carton of Oatly oat milk that I’ve been grooving on the past couple of weeks.

This pudding was better than other dairy-free puddings I’ve tried, like Zen Chocolate Almond Pudding or the vegan pudding from Kreation Organics. Zen was fine but tasted like the Snack Packs you put in a kid’s lunch box. Kreation’s tasted fresher but was cloyingly sweet. This New York Times pudding put them both to shame.

My husband shared some with his vegan co-workers. One sent him this text:

I urge you to try the swill for yourself!

OAT MILK CHOCOLATE PUDDING RECIPE
Adapted from The New York Times

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups non-dairy milk, preferably oat
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips (at least 66% cacao)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, use a silicone spatula to stir together the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt. Slowly stir in the milk and keep stirring until smooth and combined.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium-low heat until the pudding thickens, begins to bubble, and coats the spatula, 5 to 10 minutes. (If the pudding is coating the bottom of the pan too quickly, reduce the heat.)

Add the chocolate chips and stir vigorously until they melt and the pudding is thick and smooth. (It will thicken much more after it’s chilled.)

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Spoon the pudding into a serving bowl or individual cups or ramekins. After it has cooled slightly, press plastic wrap onto the surface of the pudding to prevent a “skin” from forming on top. Refrigerate until cold. The pudding will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

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Cocobella Creamery

Cocobella Creamery is one of the few ice cream parlors in Los Angeles that serve vegan ice cream exclusively. Having thoroughly disliked another one—Kippy’s in Venice—I was skeptical about Cocobella, until I found out they use oat milk as the base in half their flavors. Since I’m currently on an oat milk kick, I decided to give it a try.

I sampled four oat milk flavors: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Forbidden Horchata, Hong Kong Milk Tea, and Moose Tracks. The first three were so-so—not bad, but not great. They all lacked a strong flavor. I was especially disappointed that the Hong Kong Milk Tea was so “subtle,” as the woman behind the counter put it. I would kill for a dairy-free ice cream that tastes like boba tea. Alas, this one did not deliver.

But I did like Moose Tracks, a vanilla base with chunks of chocolate and sunflower butter cups (which taste like peanut butter cups). It wasn’t as rich and smooth as real ice cream, but it wasn’t grainy like Kippy’s. And it didn’t have a weird aftertaste as so many non-dairy ice creams do. (I didn’t bother with their coconut milk flavors for his very reason; the taste of coconut tends to dominate.)

A kid’s scoop of Moose Tracks.

The biggest draw of Cocobella is the sheer variety of flavors. If you eat a lot of vegan ice cream, you will appreciate this. And I like that they’re diving into oat milk territory. But here are the problems with Cocobella:

(1) It’s expensive—$4.25 for a kid’s scoop, the smallest and cheapest thing on the menu.

(2) The parking can be a hassle. Before 5 p.m., the lot is free. But when I came on a Saturday night, the lot was valet-only and cost $12. (Blame the bar and Cuban supper club next door). Apparently, Cocobella customers get ten minutes free, but I didn’t know this so I took my chances and parked illegally on the street.

Am I going to run back to Cocobella anytime soon? No. I’d rather go to Ralphs and get a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Non-Dairy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, which kicks Cocobella’s ass. But if I’m in the neighborhood on a hot day, I might stop by to check out their flavors… as long as I can find free parking.

COCOBELLA CREAMERY, 1253 Vine St., Suite 12, Los Angeles, CA 90038

Oatly Dairy-Free Oat Milk

Scanning the dairy shelves at Ralphs, I ask myself, “Do I really need to try another dairy-free milk?” I’ve already had soy, almond, coconut, almond-coconut, cashew, macadamia nut, hazelnut… How many more things can you make fake milk out of?

But oat milk is the big new player on the market, supposedly the most environmentally friendly milk there is. And the oat milk latte I had at Balconi Coffee Company was pretty good. So I give in and buy a carton of Oatly.

First of all, you’ve got to give them points for creative packaging. My favorite part of the carton is not the hippie font or the wacky artwork, but the part that says, “You are one of us now.” It sounds so sinister that it cracks me up. This is the kind of carton that will entertain you while you’re eating cereal.

When I drank it straight up, it did actually taste like the milk at the bottom of a bowl of cereal. It’s slightly sweet, and the oat flavor is reminiscent of Cheerios.

But in coffee, Oatly loses its cereal-ness and has a smooth, inoffensive flavor. It’s thicker than almond milk, which is my usual go-to in coffee. I added it to iced coffee, and its lack of a distinctive flavor allowed the coffee to really shine.

I also made a latte by foaming Oatly in a manual milk frother. Because of its thickness, this was far more successful than trying to get almond milk to foam. Coconut milk is even thicker, but it tastes like coconuts — not what everyone wants in a latte.

My next mission is to make a dairy-free chocolate pudding using Oatly. Stay tuned!

The Curious Palate

As a dairy-free eater, I have a hard time with sandwiches because they so often have cheese, or they seem pointless without it. But the bahn mi is a cheeseless sandwich that bursts with flavor. I think it’s one of the few successful Asian fusions out there. It’s got the lemongrass-marinated meat and pickled vegetables of Vietnam, paired with the baguette and paté of France.

The Curious Palate in Santa Monica serves a fantastic bahn mi. Is it authentic Vietnamese food? No. But it’s really, really good. The baguette is crusty and fresh, hollowed out to make room for the generous fillings. I chose the braised pork belly for my protein, and it was juicy and flavorful without being too fatty. The pickled carrots, cucumbers, and cabbage were crunchy and tangy — and there was a lot of them. There was no paté, but the chipotle aioli was a nice condiment. And of course, there was plenty of fresh cilantro.

For $17, this isn’t a cheap lunch. But considering the quality of the ingredients and the obvious care that goes into the food, it’s not outrageous. One of the things I appreciated most was that the side salad wasn’t perfunctory — it was good enough that I would even order it as a main.

So if you’re looking for a great dairy-free sandwich, head to the top floor of Santa Monica Place, the mall at the end of the 3rd Street Promenade, and try the bahn mi at the Curious Palate. You won’t even think about missing cheese.

THE CURIOUS PALATE, 395 Santa Monica Place, Suite 321, Santa Monica, CA 90401