Delicious, moorish Buckwheat Chocolate Pudding with cashews & a hint of orange… gut friendly goodness!

Buckwheat Chocolate Pudding … delicious, gut friendly goodness! Moorish, earthy, quick, easily adaptable and finger licking good, here’s a pudding that makes for a fab dessert, an ideal snack, perhaps even dessert for breakfast. With the simple addition of buckwheat groats and cashews that give this dessert great body and texture, zesting fresh oranges added fresh notes to an already tasty pudding.

Buckwheat groats takes me down memory lane, an ingredient I discovered decades ago and somehow forgot in the years that passed. The other day looking for a recipe a reader asked for, I came upon this Chocolate Buckwheat Biscotti recipe on the blog from way back in 2016.

Hello rabbit hole … I was happy to take a deep dive into the 1990s, a deep dive into our memorable visits to Moscow in better times, a refreshment of recipes that we enjoyed in the no cell phone, no social media, non-digital era. Without the need to take images for social media, those times suddenly came alive. Memories that seemed to have faded {like the photos in the albums} were refreshed, times I am just so fortunate to have been part of, holidays that meant the world, experiences I cannot forget!

It was those days of no cell phones, no social media, passports carried on person at all times. Moscow was bitterly cold yet sunny on our first visit in 1995. Tall grey apartments, sleet on most days, babushkas in bread lines, the Onion Domes, art sellers on the sidewalks of cobbled streets { I still have 2 old church + 1 onion domes watercolors on my wall }, being served my first rabbit pie in a fine dining place across the Red Square { I couldn’t get myself to even try it despite much encouragement }, our hosts beautiful Collie ‘Graf’, the endearing 6 ft tall driver Vadim driving their quintessential red Lada, the sun streaming through the kitchen window on a good day, loads of Vodka, shopping from cargo container based markets for food and household items for e.g. hazelnut & vanilla coffee sachets from Europe, also local sachets of vanilla sugar …and of course, my first exposure to buckwheat groats on our next visit in 1996!

Buckwheat or ‘kasha‘ as Ulyana called it was the porridge she offered our 3 month old daughter who we travelled with on one of the subsequent visits to Moscow. Since we flew in from the UK, I was armed with truckloads of Gerber baby food jars and my friend would have nothing of it. For her, it was buckwheat porridges or rather ‘kasha‘ as she referred to it, something I had never heard of. My mother was a very conservative cook and only the dishes she had eaten in her childhood usually showed up on our table. The variety was meagre, the choices pretty unimaginative, very limited to North Indian staple grains like wheat, rice, dal, semolina. It was always no nonsense meals, simple, straightforward other than on festivals when she went all out as we always had a house full of guests!

So every time I heard of something new, my ears perked up and my brain began working overtime. I had a buckwheat cookie phase with these Eggless Wholegrain Buckwheat Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies, Wholegrain Buckwheat Orange Chocolate Chippers, as also the Wholegrain Chocolate Buckwheat Sablés above. I was fascinated with new ingredients, and I think that continues to this day. Id all but forgotten about buckwheat in the years that passed until that reader request for the Chocolate Buckwheat Biscotti recipe. Buckwheat is a pseudocereal, ridiculously nutritious since it is a complete protein with antioxidant properties, and is a great plant food option. Delve into it a little further and you’ll find how easily naturally gluten free groats can substitute something like rice in your everyday meal choices with ‘kasha‘.

Riding on the current worldwide trend of gut healing foods, buckwheat groats couldn’t have showed up at a better time in my life. High in fiber with a good offering of essential minerals like iron, phosphorus, magnesium etc, it’s worth exploring this often overlooked little gluten free grain so easily available across the globe. While in my head it remains as ‘kasha’, in India buckwheat groats are easily available as kuttu giri. Buckwheat flour or kuttu ka aata is more popular and very easily available flour used by the local population especially during the fasting season.

That chocolate buckwheat biscotti inspired me to order a bag of buckwheat groats right away, and soon I was on my way to making a pudding, something I’ve made a few times already. Watch this space because I know how my fascination with ingredients goes. While I plan to replace rice with buckwheat in one of my favourite lunch recipes, I’m beginning to get a little more creative and plan to make more buckwheat desserts, play with other recipes!

I’ve already added buckwheat groats to marinated cannellini beans, to a healthier version of flapjacks, and to peanut butter granola too. Each recipe went through several trials and each is beyond delicious! Its difficult to stop when you are inspired I guess!

With Spring practically here, perhaps my energy levels have increased somewhat. Flowers everywhere, birds chirping, brighter days after a bitterly cold and damp winter, I’m ready to try new recipes everyday!

For now, this Cashew Buckwheat Chocolate Pudding is what dreams are made of. It’s deeply delightful, moorish, earthy thanks to dates that sweeten it and a great make ahead dessert option. To make it vegan, simply use a plant based milk and a vegan chocolate and you’re are good to go! Enjoy!!

Table of Contents

Toggle

Buckwheat Chocolate Pudding with cashews and a hint of orange

Buckwheat Chocolate Pudding … delicious, gut friendly goodness! Moorish, earthy, quick, easily adaptable and finger licking good, here's a pudding that makes for a fab eggless dessert, an ideal snack, perhaps even dessert for breakfast.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 5 minutes mins

Chill 4 hours hrs

Total Time 4 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine Indian, Russian, Ukrainian

Servings 3 people

Ingredients

  

• 75 g cashews soaked overnight, drained
• 240 g milk 1 cup
• 1/2 tsp agar agar powder
• 3 dates {I used Kalmi dates}
• 30 g buckwheat groats soaked overnight, drained
• 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 100 g 54% dark chocolate chopped, room temperature
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 orange

Instructions

 

• Soak the cashews overnight and drain. Alternatively, soak the cashews in very hot water for 30 minutes, then drain. Reserve.
• Whisk the agar agar into 1/2 cup milk and heat to a gentle simmer either over the stove top or in the microwave 30 seconds at a time, twice. Whisk each time. Don’t bring to a boil. Add in the chocolate and cover and leave until the chocolate melts.
• Add the cashews, dates, cocoa powder, vanilla, orange zest, buckwheat groats and remaining milk into the jar of a small blender / or immersion blender jar and blend until smooth. Add the melted chocolate milk and process again until well blended.
• Taste and adjust for sweetness, then pour into serving glasses/bowls and leave to set for a few hours or better overnight since the flavours mature better.
• Serve with a drizzle of melted bitter orange marmalade, fresh berries etc.

Keyword agar agar, cashewnuts, chocolate, dessert, eggfree, eggless, glass dessert, gluten free, no bake, no eggs, no gelatine, small desserts, sweet, vegetarian dessert

kasha: it really is ridiculously nutritious. First off, buckwheat is a complete protein – meaning, it contains all nine of the amino acids humans need to get from food – which makes it perfect for plant-based diets.  Secondly, buckwheat is high in fiber, which is essential for gut and heart health, and it has a high concentration of minerals, like magnesium, iron, and phosphorus.