I was very pleasantly surprised when my sister bought over a chia seed pudding for dessert one evening over the Christmas holidays. Not usually one for seeking out health foods I hadn’t had the pleasure of sampling these little beauties before. Big sis made them into a pudding with coconut cream and served the pudding with a wonderfully tart rhubarb compote and ice cream. Safe to say I was converted.
Chia seeds themselves are fairly bland so take well to plenty of flavouring. I think the nicest thing about this antioxidant-rich superfood is their texture once they’ve been soaked for a few hours. It’s reminiscent of tapioca or sago but isn’t as gluey and the seeds still retain just a little bit of bite.
I located the seeds in my supermarket bulk bin section and bought just a small amount in order to experiment, and they were so successful I’m heading back to stock-up. Soaked in coconut milk, sweetened with pineapple juice and just a touch of sugar, and brightened with fresh lime, I turned the seeds into a glorious pudding worthy of ending any meal, yet (reasonably) good for you and a surprisingly light sweet treat. Chia seeds are available in black or white – I quite like the contrast of the black seeds with the white coconut milk, but the choice is yours.
Furthermore, it literally took 15 minutes to put this pudding together (10 of those while I read the newspaper and waited for the coconut milk to cool!) and then it was just a matter of letting nature do her thing while the seeds absorbed the coconut mixture and then serving. Superfood indeed! I think chia seeds would be delicious with any number of flavour combinations, but here is my offering.
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4 puddings
- ½ cup chia seeds
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 400g tin pineapple slices, drained and juice reserved
- 1 tbsp soft brown sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 whole cloves
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 1 strip of lime zest, pith removed
- Juice of 1 lime
- ⅓ cup shredded coconut
- 1 tsp grated lime zest to garnish
- Pour the coconut milk into a saucepan reserving two tablespoons to use later. Add ½ cup of pineapple juice and the sugar, cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamom and the strip of lime zest. Stir over a gentle heat for 5 minutes until the sugar has dissolved. Do not boil. Remove from the heat and allow the spices to infuse for 10 minutes.
- Put the chia seeds in a bowl - be sure to use a decent sized bowl because the seeds will expand to 3 or 4 times their size - and pour over the coconut liquid. Cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
- Put the shredded coconut into a dry frypan and gently toast over a medium heat for a few minutes, shaking the pan regularly. Keep a close eye on it because the coconut will burn easily. Set aside.
- When ready to serve, fish the cinnamon stick, cloves and zest strip out of the chia seeds. Keep 4 pineapple slices aside for garnish and chop the remaining slices into small pieces. Stir the chopped pineapple through the chia seed mixture. Pour in the reserved coconut milk, and squeeze on the lime juice. Stir well. Spoon the chia seed mixture into individual serving bowls. Top with a pineapple ring, toasted coconut and lime zest. Enjoy!
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