Summer is the perfect time to enjoy fruit based desserts. My mom made these regularly all throughout our childhood and we all enjoyed some good family time together, often watching our favourite TV Soaps. While Fruit Custard tastes absolutely delicious, it is often loaded with sugar and cornstarch which may not fare well for the body.
So, we thought of creating a healthier version of the Fruit Custard, keeping the essence of the original recipe intact. This one is loaded with fibre and fruity goodness (read loads of Vitamin A & C) and is super simple to make. While I prefer the egg version personally, I was primarily experimenting this recipe for one of my Vegan friends who was coming home to pay me a visit.
Frankly making the Vegan version of the Fruit Custard wasn’t all that difficult. All I had to do was to replace the custard maker – which is essentially cornstarch mixed with salt and some artificial additive – with a gluten-free thickener. If you have been following my recipes you know that tapioca is one of my favourite thickeners, and it works so well in this case.
The beauty of this Fruit Custard is that you can easily use any milk of your choice. While I am using full fat coconut milk, I understand that it takes time to adjust with your taste buds with. So go ahead and use any milk that you prefer, almond milk, hazelnut or even oat milk works fine in this case.
Moreover like most of my recipes this one is versatile too, you can sweeten it with a sweetener of your choice. I have used monk fruit for this recipe as I like the subtle flavour that monk fruit brings to fruit based desserts but feel free to substitute it with anything you like.
Conventional fruit custard has a yellowish tinge so I simply added turmeric powder to get that tinge. While I was a bit doubtful myself – it turned out perfectly well. It doesn’t leave a residue taste in the finished version and fares perfectly well for the body. I am also using this opportunity to garnish the dessert with some fibre goodness, so I love to add some chia seeds to give that little crunch along with the gooey base texture.
All in all its a perfect little Vegan, AIP and a Paleo dessert treat.
So lets dive straight in:
Fruit Custard - Vegan | Paleo | AIP
Ingredients
- Full Fat Coconut milk - 1 cup
- Tapioca Starch - 3/4th tablespoon
- Sweetener of choice - 2 tablespoons (I used Monkfruit)
- Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
- Turmeric powder - 1/8th tsp
- Himalayan Sea Salt - 1/8th tsp
- Cardamom powder - 1/8th to 1/4th tsp
Garnish:
- Fruits of choice
- Chia Seeds
- Nuts and Seeds
- Vegan chocolate chips
Instructions
- Add coconut milk and tapioca starch to a saucepan
- Whisk them together well until combined and there are no lumps
- Then turn on the burner and add the rest of the ingredients
- Whisk until the mixture thickens and you get your very first boil
- Remove and set aside
- Let it cool at room temperature
- Transfer the mixture to 2 serving bowls and chill in the refrigerator for at least 45 mins
- Remove and garnish with preferred fruits, nuts, seeds and chocolate chips
- Devour