Vegalicious's Dalmatian (or my Polka Dot) Pudding

I was searching for something, on the net, the other day when I was struck by a beautiful photograph at Vegalicious, a food blog dedicated to vegan and vegetarian food. The post was a lovely coconut pudding with chocolate spots, very aptly named a Dalmatian pudding!
I had all the ingredients on hand and it seemed a perfect choice for dessert. I followed the original recipe with some minor changes.

The recipe says coconut, but I wasn't sure about whether it meant fresh or dessicated. Since coconut is something we're never short of in Goa, I used freshly grated coconut which I ran a couple of times in my blender to obtain finely shredded coconut. I increased the sugar and cornstarch a bit and added some powdered cardamom to the pudding.

All I had were mini chocolate chips, so I used them to "spot" my coconut pudding. To give your pudding a true "Dalmatian" look, use regular sized chocolate chips or follow the method suggested in the original recipe. As you can see, my pudding doesn't have quite the "look". My cousin, who was here for a short holiday, suggested that I could call my pudding a "Polka Dot Pudding" instead!!

Dalmatian or Polka Dot, this pudding is very easily made and quite good. My picture doesn't do justice to the pudding but this is the best I could do considering that I had to serve it immediately after, but do go across to see it in all it's glory at Vegalicious. You won't be disappointed.
Here is my microwave adapted "Polka Dot version" of the original Dalmatian Pudding.



Ingredients:

400ml of very thick coconut milk (packaged)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 tsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp finely shredded fresh coconut

1 tsp powdered cardamom

a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips



Method:


Place the coconut milk, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, salt and cornstarch in a microwave safe bowl. Whisk, by hand, a couple of times till the suagr has somewhat dissolved. Add the coconut and stir a couple of times.

Microwave, uncovered, at 100% for 2 minutes. Take out and stir well. Microwave for another 2 minutes at 100%. Take out and stir again. Now microwave for another 2 minutes at 80%.

By now the pudding would have thickened to the consistency of a thick custard. Add the cardamom powder and mix well. Allow the pudding to cool a bit, stirring occasionally, and pour into microwave safe serving bowls. Refrigerate till solid.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips carefully on top of the pudding to produce a "Dalmatian" pattern. Place in the microwave for about 2 minutes at 80% or till the chocolate chips melt. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
This pudding serves 4.

The chosen book for this month's "This Book Makes Me Cook" was Agatha Christie's short story collection titled Adventures of a Christmas Pudding. Having been a confirmed fan of Agatha Christie books I had read this one before but did not have the time to re-read it this month, for various reasons. Hence I decided to use the title as inspiration and this pudding is my contribution.
Other Agatha Christie inspired creations were Simran's A Tale of Two Puddings and Sweatha's Quick Blackberry Tart.

This pudding is also my submission for Srivalli's MEC being hosted this month by Jayasree of Kailas Kitchen with the theme Microwaved Puddings.

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