Paleo & vegan matcha overnight chia with hemp seeds, pistachio’s and cherry’s

It looks like a lush Christmas dinner dessert. But it is actually ‘just’ an overnight chiapudding. The green you see not only comes from the pistachio’s, but also from matcha powder and hemp seed. Both give a nice tangy flavour that’s just a bit different than your ordinary overnight chia. Topped with pistachio’s, and nd cherry’s for a full sweetness. Together the bright red from the cherry’s and the green from the matcha and pistachio’s form a luscious colourburst. This dessert is not only glutenfree and dairyfree but paleo proof as well.

Overnight chia

Overnight chia is a wonderful way to make pudding without dairy. Of course coconut milk or cream is always a nice go to as well, but I don’t want all my meals to taste like coconut. And in this dessert the pistachio’s and hemp seeds combine so good with chia seeds! Way better than they would with coconut milk!

How to make chia pudding

Chia seeds form a nice jelly like layer when put into any kind of fluid. That can be water but also any vegan milk, coffee or juice. Usually you need 3 times the amount of fluid: so 1 tablespoon of chia seeds and 3 tablespoons of fluid.

Pistachio paste

Pistachio paste is to pistachio’s what peanut butter is to peanuts. It is made only from pistachio’s that you process in the foodprocessor. First you chop them into tiny pieces. Than it becomes flour. And if you process even longer the oil comes free from the flour and you get an thick, oily paste. For a nice green colour you can use raw pistachio’s. Removing the brown skin makes it even more green. Therefor you can blanch them and rub them in a clean cloth, just like you would do when making white almonds. Roasted pistachio butter has a deeper flavour that would also taste very rich. but that will never leed to the lush green bowl shown in my picture.

Of course store bought paste will work just fine. But be sure to buy paste with no additives!

Raw honey

Make sure you buy raw honey with no added sugar. Honey that has been heated won’t crystallize. Which seems like a good thing. But honey contains healthy enzymes from the bees and those enzymes will loose their benefits when heated more than 110F or 43C. If you buy honey from a local bee keeper the honey contains pollen from your neighborhood, which might be beneficial for allergies.

Maple syrup

For vegan replace the honey for maple syrup.

FAQ’s