Friday 8 March 2013

Chia pudding

A Wray Organic store recently opened close to me. Previously when I needed to get 'weird' ingredients like besan flour, amaranth or quinoa, or buy in bulk I had to make a trek to Mrs Flannery's.  Which isn't really all that far if I'm being honest, but having a healthy organic store within walking distance is a real treat for me.

I sometimes meet some of the girls from my mother's group there for a coffee date, and nine times out of ten, I'll go for a little browse around the store as well.  Last time I was there I picked up some chia seeds, cacao nibs (not cocoa!) and a couple of other goodies.

Chia is one of those great foods that's recently become super popular, and is therefore many times the price that it was when all people knew it for was making chia pets.

Chia Hello Kitty
Chia is actually a really great food.  It:

  • is rich in Omegas 3 and 6 which is great since I don't eat fish
  • is high in calcium, protein, fibre, iron and magnesium
  • digests easily and converts to energy quickly
  • absorbs over 9 times its volume in liquid, so a small amount goes a long way and helps keep you full for longer

One of my favourite ways to use chia is to make chia pudding. These little seeds go gooey when added to liquid, making a sort of gelatinous tapioca texture. As they have no taste themselves, they take on the flavour of whatever is added to them so the possibilities are endless really.  It's almost anti-climatic to call this a recipe, it's so easy.

Basic Chia Pudding
1 1/2 cups milk of your choice (I like soy, almond or for extra decadence, coconut)
1/4 cup chia seeds
vanilla essence (real vanilla bean if you feel fancy)


That's it.  Add the ingredients to a jar, and stir (or, if you trust the lid of your jar, just shake it up a little).   Make sure the chia doesn't clump. I put the mixture into the fridge to set and allow the seeds to swell for a good hour or so.  Although I'm lazy and usually just leave it in overnight.

Viola! Consume as is, or add toppings and flavouring of your choice.  Mr Fork thinks it looks like tiny eyeballs, so on the odd occasion he wants some, I add cocoa powder and extra sweetener to make it chocolate flavoured for him.


Tips/thoughts

  • I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but if you want to sweeten it, maple syrup or blended dates work nicely
  • Delicious toppings include one or multiple of the following: coconut, cacao nibs, fresh berries, dried cranberries, nuts, cocoa powder
  • An interesting flavour twist is to infuse the milk with chai before adding the seeds. Yum!
  • This makes a lot of pudding, so if you don't eat it all, you can top it up with more liquid and leave the seeds to plump up further
  • The pudding can keep in the fridge as long as you'd store the milk

What's your favourite go to pudding or snack?

7 comments:

  1. Hello, lovely! I've done nothing but procrastinate today from studying BUT I'm inspired by this very simple recipe and am putting this on my shopping list for tomorrow x (btw, revived an old blog decade-thirty.blogspot.com which currently only has crap on it right now, but hopefully will get better). Thanks for the FB message the other day xx dorina

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  2. We have all the ingredients for this and I've NEVER thought of making Chia Pudding!! Going to try tomorrow. Thanks babe.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. What a nice idea! It’s very helpful for me. I have try to following your great idea. Thanks for sharing with us
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  5. its really awesome idea about china pudding, thanks for this best idea

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  6. This is a very effective idea. i enjoyed on this post

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