Ugandan coconut chia pudding (written June 30, 2019)
As you can tell by now, we are terrible at getting ‘Foodie Friday’ blog posts out on time – hey ho better late than never! Luckily being in Uganda means we are 2 hours ahead; whatever time I get this in, it’s 2 hours earlier than what it would have been if we were in the UK.
We try to encourage seasonal and local products, so being on the equator with super rich soils, the fruit you get from Uganda is next level. It seemed only rude to not use these to our advantage!
Don’t let the frog’s-spawn look discourage you – this pudding is AMAZING. Not only that, it’s cheap to make (with local fruits), easy to make with minimal effort involved, and can easily look impressive.
Out of curiosity, we decided to cost out how much our ingredients were:
2 small sweet bananas (the same size as 2/3 ‘normal’ banana) = 100 shillings (~2p)
5 passionfruit = 1000 shillings (~21p)
Mango = free (from our garden!)
2 cans of Coconut milk ~10000 shillings (~£2.04)
Chia = 6000 shillings (~£1.28)
For 10 puddings, we spent in total ~£3.55, making each dessert cost a huge ~36p!
(Obviously for the UK prices will change due to ingredients)
Just a little about these ingredients….
The mango I found on the floor, underneath the mango tree in the garden! Normally monkeys or insects get them before we do so I was lucky to grab one in this case.
The passionfruit and bananas are sourced from the local market, 5 minutes away, and all grown locally. We do sometimes get bananas in our garden, but not at the moment.
Chia seeds are readily available in Uganda – and YES that does make them pretty cheap! (for once). For all you chia lovers, you’d hate to know that you can buy them a kilo at a time in the supermarkets if you want AND they’re organic.
The final ingredient is coconut milk - one of my all-time favourite cupboard staples. Being so versatile, you can use it in both savoury and sweet dishes; I use it all the time in curries, sauces, soups, desserts, vegan ice cream etc.
This pudding is Gluten Free, Vegan, No Added Sugar and Paleo
I did not need to add in any sugar in this case as the fruit seems to be ‘sweet on steroids’ in Uganda. If you fancy it sweeter, you can add in date syrup, maple syrup, agave nectar, honey derivatives, honey (non-vegans), etc to your taste.
Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Chill time: 4 hours/overnight
Serves: 10
Ingredients
2 cans coconut milk
125g chia seeds (for a more solid mixture add more)
1/2 mango
2 sweet small bananas (3/4 ‘normal’ banana)
5 passionfruit
Method
1. Combine the coconut milk and chia seeds in a bowl and mix well.
2. I added in 3 passionfruit and a small amount of chopped mango, mix well to combine with the coconut-chia mix. (Give the mixture a taste, and if you want to add in some sweetness, now is the time to do it!)
3. Pour into small glasses / ramekins / jars
4. Put into the fridge and leave for a minimum of 4 hours
5. Chop up the remaining fruit and arrange on top as to your liking
Other tasty combinations
- Toasted coconut flakes, cacao nibs and date syrup
- Cinnamon, apple (or apple coated with cinnamon and brown sugar), raisin
- Passionfruit, fresh orange juice and zest
- Summer fruits
- Fruit and nut mix
Enjoy!