Creamy Quinoa Pudding
I set out to find a quinoa pudding recipe this April because I recalled my friend Trystyn, who died around a year ago, mentioning not long before she died that a volunteer hospice (or similar) worker had made some especially for her, and Trystyn really enjoyed it. In the time I knew Trystyn, she was a very health-conscious person, so I thought this recipe was most likely to suit her tastes (others called for heavy cream or eggs). I found the recipe here; the one I’ve reproduced below has some notes based on my experience making it two or three times now.
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
- 2-1/2 cups soy milk
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 Tbsp. maple syrup, or agave syrup
- 2 Tbsp. kudzu, dissolved (a thickening agent; see notes below)
- 2 Tbsp cold water
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg or ground cinnamon
Put quinoa, soy milk, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add sweetener. Mix well. Add Kudzu, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Add vanilla and spices. Top with your choice of topping or fruit. Delicious warm or chilled.
My notes:
- The soy milk works really well; I’ve also experimented with adding half-and-half and whole milk (because we had them around the house) instead of a portion of the soy milk.
- I used maple syrup, mostly because that’s what I had and I didn’t exactly know what agave syrup was.
- Instead of kudzu, I used corn starch, which you’re supposed to mix in with the water before adding to the pudding (the recipe isn’t clear, but I’m sure this is right).
- I may experiment with adding no thickener, as the pudding seemed pretty thick to me even before I added the corn starch. And when we get it ready to eat after storing it in the refrigerator, we add a little bit of soy milk to thin it out a bit. So the thickener may be completely unnecessary.
- We didn’t top it with any fruit or other topping, although some recipes I consulted suggested raisins or currants.
