Nearly 10 years ago, I had a very vivid dream that I still often think about. It was episodic, and each scene was dedicated to one of my friends who, in the distant future of this dream, were being lauded and rewarded for their artistic achievements after years of hard work and dedication. My composer friend was receiving a high-profile award. My visual artist friend had landed a lucrative commission. My musician friend was becoming wildly famous. Each episode was full of joy and triumph. I felt so happy and proud for my community. The final episode in my dream was about me. In my episode, I was finally, after years of struggle, able to find a store in my neighborhood that sold P.G. Tips tea. I is true that am addicted to P.G. Tips tea, however, the dream did beg the question “Why are my aspiration for myself so low in comparison to everyone around me?”
It is true that, while I do occasionally pull of some reasonably impressive artistic feats, I spend much, much more time planning, cooking and eating meals. I’m not lazy. I’m just really, really distracted by food. I’ll have you know, by the way, that many of my friends are indeed now gaining the fame and success that they so deserve AND I there is now a store in my neighborhood that sells P.G. Tips. I should really try to put my dreaming power toward something other than my craving for treats.
My current example of food distraction involves passionfruit and regret. Everyone my age has regrets, but they usually focus on lost loves, career decisions and finances. I truly regret not eating more passionfruit during the 9 years that I lived in Hawaii and the 20 more years that I visited my mother while she lived there. What was I thinking? Where were my priorities? Why could I not think ahead to my long life in New York City, where it is so hard to find passionfruit. Why didn’t I eat them while I could?
I recently bought some passionfruit that had come all the way from New Zealand for WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much money. The passionfruit in Hawaii are pale yellow whereas the New Zealand variety are an exceptionally sexy shade of dark purple. As pretty as they were, I can’t afford to buy any more of them. Happily, I recently discovered that you can buy frozen passionfruit pulp at the corner market in my neighborhood! Less than 2 bucks for 2 cups of pulp! Let’s take a moment to cheer for living in neighborhood full of Caribbean immigrants! Wait… deja vu… this reminds me of that PG Tips tea dream.
Learn from my regrets and, if you are lucky enough to live in the tropics or a Caribbean neighborhood, make this pudding. In addition to being healthful and delicious, it is stupidly simple to make. *Edit 8/28/17 there is a higher quality passionfruit puree, made by the Simply Puree company that I prefer to the one available in my neighborhood, but it does cost more. I get it from Kalustyan’s.
COCONUT PASSIONFRUIT CHIA SEED PUDDING
- 1/2 cup chia seeds
- 1 can of coconut milk (12-14 oz)
- 2 cups passionfruit pulp (Leave the seeds in if you are using fresh fruit! This is a seed pudding after all!)
- maple syrup to taste (I use 1 or 2 Tablespoons for fresh passionfruit and more for frozen)
- The seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean (optional)
- Combine the chia seeds coconut milk and passionfruit pulp in a container with a lid and place it in the fridge. It will make a thin pudding in four hours, but I prefer the consistency after 8 hours. It is a good idea to at least give it a shake after the first few hours.
- When the pudding is set, season it with maple syrup and vanilla.
- The pudding keeps for 4 days in the fridge and is great for quick breakfasts. It does continue to get thicker.
MORE PASSIONFRUIT! MORE CHIA SEEDS!
Big Sis Little Dish 
Sitting on my deck with my morning cup of PG tips, this post made me laugh so loud I scared all the birds out of the trees! I love you. Mum
Reblogged this on Chef Ceaser.