The classic Indian flavor combination of cardamom and mango bring new life to this healthy dessert. If you love chia seed pudding, this is going to be your new favorite make ahead treat!
Aahh... cardamom & mango... flavors that go together like peanut butter and jelly, like enormous quads and Autumn Calabrese, like goat cheese and sweet potatoes, like fried chicken and guilt, like veggies and 21 Day Fix Ranch, like... ok, you get the picture.
Anyway, I know plenty of people who've neither had cardamom nor mango, so let's take a second to talk about each. Cardamom is a sweet Indian spice, it'll be love at first smell, I promise. It's used in both sweet and savory dishes, such as puddings (like this one!) and curries.
As far as mango goes, I'm betting you've had mango-flavored items (I've been known to enjoy the occasional mango margarita, for instance 🙂 ) but you may have never had it fresh. Unfamiliar produce can be kind of intimidating. What do I do with it, how do I know when or if it's ripe, how do I store it? So here are the answers to your questions:
- When is it ripe? First of all, I just want to point out that the color on the outside has nothing to do with ripeness (like an apple). It's ripe when it starts to soften. Soft but not too soft, sort of like a peach or an avocado. When you buy it, it'll likely be very hard. Leave it out on the counter for a few days until it gives to gentle pressure. Once it's ripe, stick it in the fridge until you're ready to use it. It'll last several more days in the fridge.
- How do I cut it? I'm about to go off book here. The rule of thumb is to slice off the "cheeks" of the mango around the large flat seed, then score (like you would an avocado), pop it inside out to slice of the cubes that the scoring creates. However, that's not what I do (though it's probably easier, I just hate to see all of the excess get wasted.) I peel it with a vegetable peeler - be very careful if you do this, things get slippery and I will not be held responsible for sliced appendages! Then I cut as much off around the seed as I can.
- What do I do with it? Start with adding it to your cardamom anything... how about some cardamom french toast with chopped mango? That sounds so good right now! Or you can just eat it by itself, it's absolutely my favorite fruit and it definitely is amazing all on it's own. I'll have to think of some other fun uses for mango, but I'm in a hurry right now (sorry guys!), so I'll get back to you on that.
Ok, so all of that being said, I just want to tell you that I tested this recipe with frozen, thawed mango to see how it would work out. I'd never thawed it out before, usually I buy it frozen just for smoothies or sorbet, but I've never actually eaten it as is. Best surprise ever, it worked beautifully! In fact, the chopped mango in the pictures is the frozen mango that I thawed. It was delicious, people. - Another quick note about that, the recipe has one half of a cup of chopped mango and that is what I use, but if I would have put it all in the pics, you wouldn't have been able to see the pudding!
Well, writing this post is really making me want some cardamom chia seed pudding and since I have a couple of these beauties waiting on me in the fridge... adios muchachos!
📖 Recipe
Cardamom Chia Seed Pudding with Mango
Ingredients
- 2 Tbs chia seeds
- ¾ cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 - 1 ½ teaspoon honey
- ½ cup mango, fresh or thawed from frozen, chopped
Instructions
- Whisk together the chia seeds, almond milk, cardamom and honey until honey is well combined. Put in any container that seals well and refrigerate overnight (the longer you can give it, the better). A solid 24 hours is best. They'll last several days in the fridge. When you're ready to eat, just top your pudding with the chopped mango.
Notes
You can make several of these at the beginning of the week. They keep really well.
21 Day Fix Container Equivalents: 1 ORANGE, ½ PURPLE, 1 ½ teaspoon honey
Weight Watchers Freestyle Points: 5
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 1 Serving Size: entire recipeAmount Per Serving: Calories: 205Total Fat: 8g
Torrey says
This has been sitting in my fridge for a day and a half and still just looks like a bowl of milk with chia seeds floating in it. I've made chia seed puddings before and never had a problem with them not thickening. The usual recipe I do is 1 cup milk, 1/4 cup chia seeds. I think I'll try adding the extra milk and seeds to see if it'll help. I really have been dying to try this one because I love mango and am interested in trying it combined with cardamom.
Stephanie says
Hmm... I'm not sure why it didn't set up. It isn't as thick as a regular pudding, but shouldn't be thin like milk either. You can definitely add extra chia seeds as long as you aren't doing 21 Day Fix. Hope you love the flavor combo, it's a fave of mine!
karrie @ Tasty Ever After says
Fried chicken and guilt go together so well. We actually ate fried chicken recently and after the first bite, I turned to my husband and said "We need to start P90X again". Oh that darn guilt gets me every single time!
I'm a huge fan of cardamon and mango so this recipe is a big 2 thumbs up!!!! Glad to know you took one for the team and tested out the frozen mango because I always have a bag of organic in my freezer. I also have all the ingredients on hand so may just whip this up today. Thanks dude for sharing 🙂
Stephanie says
Right?! Oh, the guilt! #januaryiscoming #thankgoodness - Yeah, I was SO glad that the frozen mango worked out so well. My store (well the one that I used when I made this recipe) always had mangos but they were never ripe and this girl isn't super great at the waiting game so... 😉 Anyway, thanks, Karrie, I hope you like it! XOXO
Kari says
I tried this the other day and the flavor was very yummy although it was not thick at all...Did I do something wrong?
Stephanie says
Hmm... how long did you refrigerate it? The longer it sits, the thicker it gets. It doesn't get quite as thick as traditional pudding, but it should have thickened up nicely for you. So sorry it didn't work out for you, I'm not sure how long you let it refrigerate, but maybe try letting it refrigerate longer next time? That's the only thing I can think of that could have affected the thickness... unless you used too much milk or too few chia seeds?
Kim says
My family has nut allergies. Can I substitute coconut milk for the almond milk?
Stephanie says
Yes, absolutely! As long as you're using a coconut milk beverage like the kind by So Delicious, the container equivalents will be the same. I always have almond milk on hand, but coconut milk would be delicious, I'm going to have to try that!