I’ll be honest, I haven’t always loved chia seed pudding! I’m not a ‘milk’ person – dairy or non-dairy – milky things are not my thing at all.
I blame it on the warm, thick-cream-on-top, school milk we had to drink at primary school. & yes I really am that old!
Anyway, I do use homemade almond milk to make overnight oats and recently experimented with using it to make chia pudding as another breakfast option. I know the texture is not to everyone’s liking, but I quite like it. It’s easy to eat, nutritious and fairly satiating. It is also really simple to make and requires minimal effort on a weekday morning when we all probably have less than an optimal amount of time to get ourselves up & out of the house.
So here’s my chia pudding recipe.
It is probably half-borrowed and half-mine, but I’m giving it to you so now it’s all yours to adapt as you wish.
chia seed pudding:
ingredients:
250ml nut milk*, ¼ tsp vanilla powder (or 1 vanilla pod scraped), 3 tbs chia seeds, handful of berries or fruit compote**, optional – 1tbs honey or maple syrup to sweeten
(serves 2 or 3)
- mix chia seeds and vanilla together in a bowl
- pour in your nut milk and stir well – if you are adding honey or maple syrup add it now
- leave the mixture for a few minutes then stir again
- repeat a few times until the mixture has thickened and then pour into your serving jars or bowls
- leave in the fridge overnight to thicken fully (if you can’t wait that long, leave a minimum of 3 hours)
- berries can be added to the jar before the chia pudding or served on top when it is ready to eat
* for the nut milk:
- soak 100g almonds overnight in filtered water
- rinse & drain them
- add the nuts to your blender with enough water to more than cover them
- blend at high speed for 1-2 minutes
- if the final consistency is too thick, add more water and blend again to mix thoroughly
- strain the ‘milk’ through a muslin cloth and use as required (the nut grounds can be used in other recipes – I tend to make a batch of overnight oats at the same time and add them to the dry ingredients)
** for the fruit compote:
fruit of your choice – fresh or frozen (berries and cherries work really well together, as do apples and blackberries)
- if you are using berries & cherries:
- place 3-4 handfuls of fruit in a small pan with a splash of water and heat over a low/medium heat until warmed through and starting to soften
- simmer briskly for a few minutes until the liquid starts to reduce and become slightly syrupy
- remove from the heat & leave to cool
- store in glass jars in the fridge and use to top your chia seed pudding when you are ready to eat it
- if you are using apples and blackberries:
- peel, core & slice 3-4 cooking apples
- add to a pan with a splash of water and cook over a gentle heat, stirring as required, until the apples are soft & mushy
- when the apples are nearly done, stir in 1-2 handfuls of blackberries (I usually use them straight from the freezer) and remove the pan from the heat
- leave to cool
- store in glass jars in the fridge and use to top your chia seed pudding when you are ready to eat it
If you make more compote than you will use over 3-4 days, store in suitable containers in your freezer and then defrost in the fridge overnight when you are ready to use it.
Enjoy Jx