And now for the details…

I’ve been needing a good breakfast option lately, and have gotten into the bad habit of buying it at my coffee shop on the way to work. The option I have been purchasing frequently? Chia pudding with a fruit compote, similar to a jam. And every time I buy it, I question why I buy instead of make. It is relatively easy to make and WAAAAAAY cheaper for me to make it at home and take it to work instead of purchasing. Not to mention, I would be producing way less waste by making it in a reusable container instead of throwing the bought plastic into the recycling bin every day.

And so… I made some! In this recipe, I chose to amp up the pudding with some passionfruit purée, and made the compote from strawberries and raspberries that I had in the fridge, which were starting to look a little rough.

We start with our compote. Wash and trim the strawberries and cut into small chunks. These strawberries had seen better days and I needed to trim around the brown spots as well.

Place the strawberries into a medium sized pot and set them on the stove at medium-low heat. Wash the raspberries and add them to the pot with the strawberries.

Let the berries cook, stirring regularly to avoid the fruit from burning on the bottom of your pot, until they have softened and are breaking down into an almost jammy consistency. Add the honey and 1 tsp of vanilla, stirring until completely mixed in. Then allow to cool completely.

Next we will mix our pudding. Start by mixing the coconut milk and passionfruit purée together. The passionfruit is going to balance the creaminess of your coconut milk by adding a tart, fruity, and slightly floral flavour to your pudding. Passionfruit purée… where do I find it, you may ask? There are a few options. You could buy fresh passionfruit from a grocer who offers them, hope you have waited the right amount of time for them to ripen enough (unripe passionfruit are quite tasteless, make sure the fruit skin is super wrinkly), scoop the pulp to a blender, add a bit of water, purée, then strain and separate the liquid form the seeds. You could do that. Or… you can find it at your local latin market in the freezer section! You might be able to tell which option I prefer…

Add your sugar and vanilla, and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Finally, add your chia and stir until completely blended. Try to avoid stirring too much, which can make the pudding “tough”.

To get the pudding ready to serve, start by pouring your compote into your containers. I used a pastry bag made from parchment paper (a trick I learned by binging on Anna Olson shows) to help me avoid slopping up the sides of the container while I was pouring.

Next, pour in your chia pudding. Be careful to do this gently so it does not end up mixing into the compote and all ending up as one big blended mess!

And now? Put a lid on it! Bahahaha I’m so funny. But seriously. Cap your puddings and put them in the fridge to set. The chia seeds will soak up the liquid from the coconut milk and passionfruit purée and turn into more of a pudding texture. Once you are ready to eat (leave it at least overnight), top your pudding with some toasted coconut for texture (bake your coconut on a cookie tray at 350ºF until they are golden brown and cool), and eat!

Happy eating.