Cardamom Pudding
Sweet cardamom rice pudding is found in many cultures, for example in Egypt, Lebanon and India.
Often times it is enriched with a few drops of rose water. In this recipe, I didn’t use sacred-rose water, I wanted to fully embrace the taste of cardamom. The reason, why I love cardamom so much, is because it reminds me of my childhood. My mom would always let me smell the cardamom pods. Freshly ground cardamom simply takes me back in time. Its aroma smells heavenly to me. Scroll further down, to find out why cardamom actually is magical…
Since cardamom is highly aromatic, it can be used in sweet, as well as savory dishes.
It relaxes the body and cleanses it at the same time. It is the number one ayurvedic remedy to get rid of mucus – in cold and damp weather, making it the perfect ingredient for your aromatic rice pudding. The purifying effect of cardamom leads not only to remove mucus, but as a diaphoretic, it opens your pores, mild sweat clears your skin and it as well may help with low grade fevers and cleanses your lymphatic system.
Cardamom improves appetite and helps against sluggish digestion and vomiting. If food stagnates or starts moving upwards, cardamom helps to move it downwards. After eating a big meal, cardamom also assists against bad breath. All in all, it is a very good spice for your stomach.
But cardamom can also aid your respiratory tracts, by helping you to improve your breathing as an asthmatic. It also increases your memory. In addition to that, cardamom helps diminishing the acidic effect of coffee.
Moreover, cardamom stimulates and strengthens the heart, making it a good spice for all yogis, since it opens the heart chakra.
To sweeten the cardamom pudding, I have used jaggery (gurr, panela, raw cane sugar). Which is raw sugar, usually from cane. Sugar cane juice is boiled, thickened and molded into different shapes and this process creates jaggery. Many more minerals are still contained, as the molasses aren’t separated from the sugar crystals during production. Jaggery pacifies Vata, while too much may be aggravating Pitta and Kapha.
In this dish, I have used basmati rice and almonds as the base. Please find out more about the Ayurvedic properties of basmati rice and almonds in my earlier post “tridoshic rose rice porridge”.
Using less coconut and almond milk, while swapping it with more water, is a good way of preparing this pudding for people with a Kapha imbalance. This will turn the recipe into a tridoshic dessert.
The ingredients create either 2 big, or 4 smaller servings and take about 20 minutes to make.
INGREDIENTS
Pudding
- 100 g almonds, peeled and ground
- 6 tablespoons basmati rice, finely ground (eg. in coffee grinder)
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 400 ml almond milk
- 1-2 teaspoons cardamom powder (freshly ground is best for the aroma)
- 5 tablespoons full raw cane sugar (jaggery)
- pinch of rock salt
Homemade Peach Compote
- 1 peach (or any other seasonal, regional fruit you like)
- 1 teaspoon of ghee or coconut oil
- sweetener of choice (eg. coconut nectar, jaggery, maple syrup)
- a few almonds
INSTRUCTIONS
Caramelize the raw sugar, then slowly add milk and cook until the sugar is fully dissolved. Add ground almonds, basmati rice, cardamom and salt and consistently stir with a whisk. Let the ingredients thicken a bit and then fill the pudding into glasses. After letting it cool down for a while, you can store it in the fridge or top it with a fruit compote of your choice.
For the compote, you simply cut peaches or any other fruit in small pieces and simmer them with a bit of ghee or coconut oil. If needed, you can sweeten the compote with jaggery or other sweeteners.
If you have any questions about this recipe, please feel free to ask me anytime.
In case you re-make this dessert, I would love to see your creation of this dish. I also learned how to make this incredible dessert in one of my cooking classes with my dear friend Sandra and changed the ingredients a bit to fit my needs, since I love a lot of cardamom. It might not suit everyone.
Much love to you.