Episode 17 Malati’s Mango Chia Pudding w/ special guest Malati Kurashvill
Intro: Courtney…Courtney Uncooked. I’m Courtney Uncooked cause that’s how I like my food. The vitamins and the minerals, you know they all get through. Absorbed into the body so that nothing gets lost when you start eating raw of your health of your health you’ll be the boss. Raw vegan for my health and you know that health is wealth. To help you stay your best, we will welcome special guests. So let’s go make a recipe and have lots of fun, your healthy living journey has just begun cause I’m Courtney…Courtney Uncooked. Courtney… Courtney Uncooked.
Courtney: Hi I’m Courtney Uncooked and this is my dear friend Malati, who was also my yoga teacher when I took yoga teacher training two years ago. This poor woman had to put up with me all day, every day for 30 days. I’m so sorry to you. We all feel bad for you, but she still came today and I didn’t even have to pay her. So thank you for coming. And Malati is just an amazing raw vegan chef, naturally. She doesn’t have cookbooks, she doesn’t look up recipes. She gets these crazy, wild, hair brained recipe ideas in her mind, whips it together and it’s delicious. So when I asked her for a recipe, she said, Oh, I don’t, I don’t know how much I don’t write things down. I don’t measure things. I just do it. And I’m like, Malati, I need direction, people need direction. So we roped her in and she created this beautiful we call it Malati’s Mango Chia Pudding. It is absolutely delicious, and it’s out of this world. So Malati just tell us like, you know, how’d you start cooking, vegan cooking, raw cooking? What’s your inspiration?
Malati: Well, generally I just love cooking. Cooking is one of my favorite things probably in the world. So I wake up and every day I want to do something different.
Courtney: Okay.
Malati: This is kind of very simple thing that I just simply do it at home and it takes not much of a time.
Courtney: Okay. Yeah, it’s very simple.
Malati: And it’s really healthy for you because Chia seeds are really good for digestion.
Courtney: Yeah.
Courtney: They fill you up.
Malati: Yes. And it’s wonderful because if you start your day with it or you can have it as a dessert, it is a great dessert. And the most important thing that we’re doing here is that we are not going to have any sugar, refined sugar.
Courtney Singing: Sugar free, sugar free!
Malati: We’re going to have some substitute of sugar and just real fruit and real ingredients. So one of the things we’ll start with the milk.
Courtney: Yes. So what I did was, I got four cups of my personal favorite plant-based milk right now, which is oat milk. I mean I cannot get enough of oat milk. But you like two cups of almond milk, two cups oat milk, you can do all almond milk, whatever you want to do. It’s four cups of your favorite plant-based milk. Again, mine is oat milk at this time. And then we’re going to add one cup of water and this recipe makes a lot, which is good. When you meal prep, you’ll have this for your entire week. When you make this recipe and it’s so easy. So four cups, plant-based milk, one cup of water and then one cup of chia seeds.
Malati: Correct.
Courtney: And then we’re just going to whisk it. She’s really good at this.
Malati: And right away. When you pour chia seeds into the milk, you want to start right away making this movement. So kind of really mix chia evenly with all the liquid. Because if you leave it like this, then they’re going to start kind of clamping together. So you don’t want that to happen.
Courtney: Just keep whisking it until there’s no floaters. So you can see all of these floaters are on the top. But one thing I love about this recipe is you don’t need any fancy equipment. You don’t need the Vitamix today. You don’t need the dehydrator, you don’t need anything but a fork and bowl. And chia seeds are great for digestion. So if you eat this in the morning, it’s going to fill you up for the rest of the day and it’s going to help you digest all your other meals better because you’ve started with this, right?
Malati: Yes, definitely.
Courtney: It’s just going to help you overall. So I’m so glad you showed this to me because this is super simple. And I love skinny girl tricks because I need them…
Malati: Who doesn’t?
Courtney: Especially during this time, you know, everyone’s just finding a lot of comfort in food. And so if I can find comfort in a food that’s going to be delicious, nutritious, and a skinny girl trick, that’s what I’m going to do. You see what I’m saying?
Malati: Awesome.
Courtney: I’m going to add the stevia.
Malati: Yes.
Courtney: So we’re just going to add 10 drops of stevia for a little bit of sweetener. And then this is optional. You don’t have to do it, but if you have some lakanto or monk fruit sweetener, definitely, just throw a tablespoon of that in. And again, this stuff is not bad like your traditional white sugar. And then we’re going to add a fourth of a teaspoon of vanilla because vanilla is really strong. So we don’t want to put too much in. We’re going to add just a fourth of that. Just a tiny bit more.
Malati: That’s what I do Courtney.
Courtney: Oh gosh, you’re rubbing off on me.
Malati: I never follow a recipe. I just like throw things in, and I just enjoy, you know, most of the time you know, I taste it and I say okay, I want to add a little bit more of something else. And I’m super like, I love my sugar and I love my sweets.
Courtney: Okay.
Malati: So that’s one of the reasons that we add two different kinds of sweeteners. And it’s really important to actually mix different kinds of sweeteners like monk fruit and it has an erythrol as well it’s a sugar alcohol. So it vibrates in your body, it literally doesn’t digest the same way, like sugar does. And if you mix different kinds of those sweeteners, then you don’t get this weird taste because sometimes people who are used to, you know, natural sugar for them, it’s really hard to go on stevia. But if you use a bit of stevia, a little bit of monk fruit, it kind of neutralizes it.
Courtney: It was a nice little kick with the Lakanto. We just let our chia seed mix soak overnight and you can see it has a nice consistency. You don’t have to do it overnight. It just needs probably three or four hours. I just do it, you know, usually the night before and then have it for breakfast.
Malati: Definitely. So what Malati likes to do because she doesn’t like strawberries, I love strawberries there’s one cup of blueberries in this and then half a mango or a full mango. And why do you like these two? What’s it with them?
Malati: I personally, the reasons and I try like with mango, it doesn’t have to be organic, but any berries you have, definitely make sure they are organic.
Courtney: Just mix them?
Malati: Yes, just mix it together. I just like the texture and the flavor with it because I love that mangoes have this nice, you know, it’s a little bit of sour taste and then blueberries are also very sweet. And so, yeah, it’s quite delicious.
Courtney: Wow.
Malati: And then there’s another option that you have.
Courtney: Want to try that one?
Malati: I will but I would like to;
Courtney: Oh, yes she showed me this yesterday. This is amazing. Okay. I’m sorry, I’m hogging you. Okay. Because this is coconut milk, but she puts it in the refrigerator, and when she does that it hardens and she uses it as whip cream for the top. So I’m going to let her go. But I was just so excited when I learned this and I almost forgot. Here you go.
Malati: So you know, those just traditional canned coconut milks. And so what I do when I put it in the fridge, as you showed, it gets very hard here and I’m just going to take it out so I can show it on a bowl here. And so you take it out and it’s like your cream pretty much and it’s super delicious. And when you take it all out, you have that little bit of water left in it. This is the one that you just throw it away and you don’t use it.
Courtney: Wow, look at that!
Malati: All you use is this cream. And this cream you can whip it and just put it on the top. Put it as much as you like. So I like it with this cream because it gives it a very nice flavor and makes it creamier. Everything. So this is a great breakfast or dessert.
Courtney: Any time of day this would be good.
Malati: And whenever you want.
Courtney: I’m just so inspired by this.
Malati: I love it.
Courtney Rapping: Making chia seed pudding with my girl Malati, even in this quarantine it makes me feel free. The soaked chia seeds yeah they taste so rich, you know you should go vegan yeah make the switch. It’s great for breakfast or any time of day, have it with your friend from six feet away. No, you don’t need a stove or an oven to cook just a blender dehydrator and Courtney Uncooked.