How to cook with chia seeds

The chia seeds They are in vogue, especially as an ingredient for puddings and porridges, thanks to the mucilage they release into the liquids in which we put them. Any vegetable drink can be turned into a pudding in a short time without having to cook anything.

But can be used for many more thingsfrom finishing any dish with a good handful on top to adding them to cake and bread doughs or taking advantage of these characteristics to make other preparations.

Preparations with chia (that are not pudding)

Today I invite you to try chia seeds as a base to make jams, ice creams and bars. Because it’s not all going to be puddings, right?

1. Sugar-free jams

To the make jams We control the amount of pectin so that the final result has the slightly gelatinous consistency that a good jam should have. Pectin needs good amounts of sugar to gel, and it is not available in all fruits, so it must be added separately or mixed with pectin and non-pectin fruits.

with chia seeds we can imitate the texture that pectin gives thanks to the gel they form with water. Instead of adding sugar and pectin or another fruit, we can use any fruit, high in pectin or not, chia seeds and water. So what we have is a jam in which we only use fruit and chia, without sugar.

The consistency is not exactly the same, but it is very similar, it can be spread very well and the flavor does not change. Of course, if you do not want to find the seeds you will have to crush them very well before adding them or making the gel separately. If you don’t mind your jam having a bit of a crunchy texture, make it as is. For example.

Strawberry jam with chia

Ingredients

2 kg of ripe strawberries (that are very sweet) 2 tablespoons of chia seeds 1 cup of water

Preparation

Wash the strawberries very well and cut them into small pieces.Put them in a saucepan over low heat, cover it and let it cook for 5 minutes, until the strawberries start to break down.Add the water and the chia seeds, stir very well and put it on high heat until it starts to boil. Lower the heat and, stirring regularly, let it reduce and the strawberries melt. The liquid will also thicken. When the sauce is thick (about 10 minutes), remove from heat and allow to cool. Once cooled it will thicken a little more. Store it in the fridge.

You can make other jams with this same method using other seasonal fruits, for example cherries, peaches, figs, etc.

2. Ice cream

if we want improve texture and viscosity For homemade ice creams, especially if we make them only with fruits, vegetable yogurt, etc., we can use whole or ground chia seeds or just chia gel.

For example we can leave doing chia gel (1 teaspoon and ½ glass of vegetable drink) and freeze a couple of bananas in pieces. Then you just have to pass it through the blender all together. voila! A nice cream much more creamy and with little seeds.

For chocolate and vanilla ice creams, etc., we can make the chia gel by heating it in a saucepan and then straining it to use only the liquid. This liquid, once cold, we beat it with the rest of the ingredients and proceed with the ice cream in the normal way.

Since they do not add flavor, we can use the amount we need. Remember that if you spend adding your ice cream it can be sandy.

Forest fruit ice cream with chia

Ingredients

125 g of raspberries 100 g of blackberries 100 g of blueberries 1 soy yogurt 1 tablespoon of chia seeds 100 ml of vegetable drink (rice, almond or whatever you want)

Preparation

Wash the fruits, dry them well and freeze them. Mix the yogurt with the vegetable drink and the chia seeds and leave it in the fridge. Beat the frozen fruits with the yogurt mixture with a mixer until it forms an ice cream. Serve as is.

3. Bars

Do bars that you can take anywhere it is one of the best ways to eat all kinds of seeds. Packing them all in one snack is easier.

When they are baked bars, you can make chia gel (1 teaspoon of chia in half a glass of water) so that it acts as an agomer for all the ingredients (along with some others, such as dates, chocolate, etc.). You can also add them as is and make them crunchy.

As we are in summer and I understand that don’t feel like baking anythingI will give you a recipe for sample bars, without baking.

Nuts bars with chia and sesame

Ingredients

8 dates 75 g dark chocolate (minimum 75% cocoa) 4 tablespoons chia seeds ½ cup shelled walnuts ½ cup shelled almonds 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Preparation

Remove the pits from the dates.Chop the chocolate and melt it in a bain-marie.Put the dates, seeds and nuts in the blender and beat it all together for 1 minute, just enough to crush it so that there are no large pieces.Pour the mixture into a bowl with the melted chocolate, mix it very well and pour it on a board or a baking tray with baking paper. Make sure there are no lumps and give it a rectangular shape. Crush the surface well so that it is tight. Let it cool and put it in the fridge so that it solidifies completely. Cut it into bars and that’s it.