Coconut Pudding with Dragon Fruit

Coconut Pudding in a glass goblet with 4 pieces of white dragon fruit on top, a spoon alongside, on a white marble countertop

Easy Coconut Pudding is for coconut lovers. The coconutty goodness is deeply comforting and satisfying. Garnish with dragon fruit, banana, pineapple, papaya or another tropical fruit, for an island feel.

Coconut seems to be one of those foods people either love or hate. I love it. Many of my relatives and friends profoundly hate it. So I have to be careful when I make dessert for them.

So I’ve resorted to hiding my bag of coconut and snitching pinches of it when my craving strikes. But once I made this Coconut Pudding — just for myself! — I stumbled upon the thing that transcends all coconutty goodness.

PLUS: It makes enough for 4, so even if you happen to be the only coconut lover at your house, the amount is still small enough to be manageable.

How to make Coconut Pudding

First, gather your ingredients. For this easy Coconut Pudding, you’ll need

milk
coconut
sugar
cornstarch
salt
egg
vanilla extract
dragon fruit
limes, optional

Steep the coconut in hot milk, and then puree it in a blender. I did it in several batches in my mini blender.

Return the coconut-milk mixture to the stove, and whisk in the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and egg.

Boil until it thickens. You can draw your finger across the spoon or spatula and see how thick it is.

Zest a couple of key limes with a microplane zester, and stir most of it into the pudding, if you like. I like!

Peel the skin off the dragon fruit. Cut a slim slice off both ends, then a vertical shallow slit in the skin, and then peel off the skin in one piece.

You can slice the dragon fruit in round slices, chunks, or however you want it. It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?I chose to cut it into cubes to top the Coconut Pudding. I didn’t want it to disappear into the pudding.

You can top the pudding with any other fruit you’d like. How about…

strawberries
sliced banana
sliced mango
sliced papaya
pineapple chunks
kiwi slices or any other fruit that appeals to you!

This isn’t going to convert anyone who detests coconut, but it makes life a lot sweeter for those of us who hold the correct opinion.

Coconut Pudding

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Yield: 4 servings

Coconut Pudding

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups milk (regular, low-fat or non-fat is fine, as is plant-based milk)
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
2 key limes, zested (optional but recommended)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Garnish: Slices of dragon fruit, or other tropical fruit such as banana, pineapple or papaya

Directions

In a heavy 2-quart saucepan, bring milk to a simmer. Add coconut, remove from heat, cover pan and allow coconut to steep for 20 minutes. Puree in blender in batches, until relatively smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Do this in batches if you have a small blender. Return coconut mixture to saucepan.
In a small bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Gradually pour sugar mixture into coconut mixture in pan, whisking constantly to combine. Whisk in egg. Turn heat on to medium and stir pudding over medium heat until the mixture boils and thickens, about 5 or so minutes. Stir in lime zest, if you are using it (save a bit to fling on the top if you like).
Remove pan from heat, cool it for 10-15 minutes and stir in vanilla. Cool pudding completely and refrigerate.
If I know I am making it for a dinner, I will pour the pudding into individual little bowls or glasses, for a pretty serving idea. Or leave it in one bigger bowl for family-style serving. Refrigerate.
When it is time to serve the pudding, garnish with slices or chunks of dragon fruit (or your choice of topping). This is the time to fling on extra lime zest if you want.
To cut a dragon fruit, slice each end off (horizontally), then make a shallow cut vertically. Peel off the skin in one piece, and slice or chunk the dragon fruit as you like.

Notes

Recipe source: Dorothy Reinhold | Shockingly Delicious

https://www.shockinglydelicious.com/coconut-pudding/

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Tagged as: coconut, dessert, key limes, pudding