Tahini Chia Pudding with Pomegranate and Pistachios #madewithchobani

Even though Christmas is gone I find the red and green in this recipe still quite seasonally appropriate. I mean I’m guessing most of you still have your Christmas trees up anyways….I think we are planning on getting rid of ours this upcoming weekend even though traditionally I think January 6th (All Kings Day) is the proper day to take everything down. So light up your tree and gaze at those (now empty) stockings one last time before they go back in the closet while eating this fairly festive breakfast :)

Tahini Chia Pudding with Pomegranate and Pistachio

Also this is essentially my way of saying: I planned to post this before Christmas but that didn’t happen but I will make this post work anyways.

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The tahini gives this pudding a lovely rich mouthfeel, which I think is the secret to making chia pudding that is truly creamy and not just gelatinous. And there’s another secret to this pudding: greek yogurt! More specifically wonderfully full fat plain Chobani greek yogurt. I created this recipe for their #MadeWithChobani project which uses Chobani yogurt in healthy meal options :) The full fat greek yogurt and the tahini will give you something that is worthy of the word ‘pudding’. And then the pomegranate and pistachios round out the Middle Eastern type flavors going on here. Some rosewater might make a lovely addition to this as well but I’m not too well versed in using rosewater; too much rosewater and you have a mouthful of soap. Say no to soap and yes to pudding.

RECIPE:

Tahini Chia Pudding with Pomegranate and Pistachio
Serves 1-2

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/3 cup plain full fat greek yogurt
• 2/3 cup vanilla almond milk
• 2 tablespoons tahini paste
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3-4 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup of pomegranate seeds
• 1/4 cup of pistachios
• 1 tablespoons sesame seeds

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a bowl (or a mason jar if you are being cute), whisk the almond milk, yogurt, tahini, chia, 2 tablespoons of the honey (save the other 2 for now) and salt until well combined.
2. Let sit for 4 hours or overnight in the fridge until the chia seeds have swelled and the mixture has thickened.
3. Transfer to your eating vehicle of choice, top with pomegranates, pistachios, remaining 1-2 tablespoons of honey (taste for sweetness), and sesame seeds
4. You might have noticed some non-chia type peeps in the pictures. I had some leftover kamut and threw that in as well. Feel free to add oatmeal, kamut, buckwheat or other grains if just the chia is not your thing. The kamut has a bit of a more hearty, toothsome brown rice type texture that I quite like.

So, so easy. The hardest part is repeatedly thwacking the pomegranate halves over a bowl of water to get all the seeds out without getting pink-red splatter all over yourself.

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And that’s about it. Hope you had a lovely New Year’s Eve and Happy New Year! In Brazil you have tons of New Year’s traditions and one of them is eating pomegranate seeds and then keeping seven of the seeds in your wallet which should bring you prosperity throughout the year hence why this pomegranate recipe seems NYE appropriate. Note I have never actually done this but I do imagine a moldy wallet is a possibility. Maybe that serves as a disincentive to spend money, having to open your gross moldy wallet everywhere…

Other New Year’s traditions include eating lentil soup, hopping over seven waves on one foot, offering gifts to Iemanja (the goddess of the sea according to the Candomble religion) by sending flowers into the ocean (if they wash back ashore that means she kindly rejected your gift), wearing all white and last but not least you must MUST MUST wear brand new underwear when the clock strikes midnight! The color of your underwear determines what you want for the new year: yellow for money, pink for new love, red for passion, white for harmony, green for health, purple for dignity, blue if you’re starting a new business and black for mystery (ya I don’t know wtf that means either).

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So you know. Hope you wore the right color underwear.