May 15th, 2008

Cacao-Café No Lait Pudding

Yield:  4 Servings

Soundtrack: "Brown Paper People" by Lila Downs from Una Sangre – One Blood 

Growing up, I used to love chocolate pudding. Since Bill Cosby convinced my mom that dangling a pudding pop in front of me would be an incentive to eat all my vegetables, I would even hold my nose and wolf down plates of overcooked green peas just to have some rich, creamy Jell-O Chocolate Pudding for dessert.

These days, I eat chocolate pudding before dinner just to spite my mom. But I stay away from milk, which is found in most commercial puddings, since I'm lactose intolerant like the majority of African Americans.  Don't get me wrong, I love velvety ice creams, egg filled pastries, and hard, aged cheeses.  But I loathe the phlegm and flatulence that quickly follow when I consume dairy products.

So I've created a non-dairy, grown-and-sexy chocolate pudding that I can eat with no side effects.  I normally avoid using tofu in desserts, but here I make an exception. Unless I tell people that this pudding doesn't have milk, they never know.  If possible, use fair trade coffee, cocoa powder, and cacao nibs. 

1 cup organic coconut milk

1 tablespoon of your favorite ground coffee

1/4 cup raw agave nectar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 box (3/4 pound) Mori Nu firm silken tofu (this dessert only works with this brand)

2 tablespoons fair trade raw cacao nibs

· In a small saucepan over high heat, combine the coconut milk and coffee. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-high and boil for 7 minutes, whisking often. Remove from heat and strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl.

· In a medium saucepan, combine 3 tablespoons of the coffee coconut milk mixture, the agave nectar, vanilla, cocoa powder, and salt and whisk to incorporate the coca powder. Bring to a boil over high heat, and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat.

· Pour the mixture into in a blender, add the tofu, and blend until smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl, add the cacao nibs, and stir well.

· Cover with plastic and refrigerate to set for at least 2 hours before serving.

· Serve chilled.

Bryant Terry  is an Oakland-based eco chef and a Food and Society Policy Fellow with the W. K. Kellogg and Fair Food foundations. He is co-author of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen. 

Also on the Root: 

Bryant Terry's Double Mustard Greens Soup, Sweet Sweetback's Salad, and Reclaiming True Grits.