Adventures in Veggie Dining: Red Bamboo

This is the kind of restaurant in that's paradise for adventurous vegetarians (and oddly enough, it's two doors down from a similarly awesome Chinese restaurant called Vegetarian Paradise 2.  More on that in a minute.)  If you're a veggie, you're used to the experience of going to a restaurant and opening up a glossy,  wide-ranging menu only to be segregated to a tiny box on the lower left-hand side of the back page listing "vegetarian options."  The menu at a place like Red Bamboo, on the other hand, completely inverts this situation.  While on first glance it looks like a traditional high end "soul food" joint with items like "Creole Soul Chicken," "Oxtail Stew" and "Codfish Cakes," but the kicker is the preface at the beginning of the menu:  it's all completely and totally vegetarian.  

About 12 years ago, Vegetarian Paradise 2 provided my very first experience in faux-meat dining and has held a very special place in my heart ever since.  I first discovered it again last fall during my first failed attempt to snag student rush tickets to David Cromer's Our Town at the Barrow Street Theater (there's a $40 deal on Playbill right now.  You won't regret it.)  But my traveling companion at the time was not in a gastronomically adventurous mood, so we passed on.  

Last night, however, I was on them move with my favorite veggie partner-in-crime Laura, up from DC.  I presented her with the idea of checking out a vegetarian Chinese place, and she was all for it.  As we approached our destination, we passed by Red Bamboo first on our right.  Drawn by the bright red-tiled exterior, she perused the menu and asked if I'd mind eating here instead.  Always up for an adventure, I eagerly stepped down the steps into one of New York's many little holes-in-the-wall.

Though the set-up of Red Bamboo is rather snug, the decor is tasteful with soft hipster music in the background.  For an appetizer, we decided to share the Cajun Fried Shrimp.  Now while I've been a veggie my entire life, I did dabble with some meat items during a rebellious period of high school, and fried shrimp was one of the few dishes I had actually sampled during that period.  So my evaluation of this dish carried a tiny bit of clout.  Visually, the dish was stunning.  Four breaded, shrimp-shaped pieces with cocktail sauce in the center.  Biting in, it was hard not to be impressed by the attention to detail in the pink tails and the white "meat." Taste-wise, Laura and I were both extremely impressed.  The "meat" was tender and the breading well-seasoned.  

For the entree, Laura and I both decided to avoid the many faux-chicken items, not because faux chicken isn't amazing, but it's so readily available and this was a special treat.  Laura decided on the Ginger Beef and I chose the Butterfly Soy Chops with fresh apple-raisin sauce served with collard greens, veggie ham and corn mashed potatoes.  Both dishes were elegantly presented and were generous portions.  While I found the ginger in Laura's dish a bit strong for my tastes, she liked it just fine, the tender "beef" strips stir-fried with garlic, ginger, scallions, carrots, sugar and snap peas served with white rice.  My butterfly soy chops were a site to behold:

When I read the words "apple raisin sauce" i had pictured something more liquid like and was delighted to see whole sliced apples and raisins.  The perfect flavor and moisture of the fruit provided a wonderful balance to the dryness of the chops.  The collards with "ham" bits and the sweet corn mashed potatoes were forgettable, but serviceable enough to provide a balance of textures to the breaded "pork" and the fruit.  

My only major gripe was with the service, which was on the slow side.  And the fact that they were out of the organic peach beer.  But if you're in Greenwich Village looking for a reasonably-priced vegetarian adventure with enough variety to please everyone in your party, save a place for Red Bamboo on your itinerary.

Red Bamboo

(212) 260-7049

(212) 260-1212

140 West 4th Street
(between 6th ave & macdougal)

Monday-Friday
12:30 to Midnight

Saturday-Sunday
Noon to Midnight

Last Seating:
Sun - Thurs: 11:15
Fri: 11:40
Sat: 11:40

Delivery Until 11PM Daily

Website:  http://redbamboo-nyc.com/site/

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes (Oh Yeah, They're Vegan)

As some of you might know, for the past few months I have been attending a weekly vegetarian dinner at my friend Sneha's apartment.  And every week, I make a different cupcake from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World  by Isa Chandra Moscowitz and Terry Hope Romero (like Julie and Julia, but with vegan cupcakes).  If you're a vegan who enjoys baking, or just someone for whom the words Tiramisu cupcakes makes your mouth water, you must add this book to your library.  Not only are their recipes easy-to-follow (even if some of the directions seem a bit counterintuitive), but they have a keen understanding of texture, moisture, and flavor that many vegan bakers lack (the reason so many vegan baked goods come out dense and dry).  Many of the techniques they employ creating vegan desserts are applicable to non-vegan desserts, and I've found the skill set I've developed empowering.  Before I started baking with them, I never would have dreamed I would be able to whip up my own frosting or throw some fruit, cornstarch, and vanilla into a saucepan and have enough confidence to know that it would come out looking like pie filling.  (Hey this is all sounding really compelling--maybe Amy Adams should star in a movie about me!)

Now onto the main event.

To preface, allow me to rewind to say, Thursday morning.  I am frantically running around in preparation for what looks to be a fun-filled, friend-filled weekend.  That evening the Rutgers Bhakti club was hosting Sacred Sounds, with internationally known kirtan band Gaura Vani.  Friday, my friend Laura was coming in from DC and I was going to look like the coolest host ever by taking her to my veggie dinner and then hang out with all of my Mason Gross theater friends at Midnight Special.  

Then, disaster struck.

Now, I've been cool with all of the blizzard weather that has inundated the Northeast this year. Maybe I've been living near better scenery this year, or have just been listening to a lot of Fleet Foxes, but more than any other winter I've had little trouble fancying myself in an adaptation of the Snow Queen every time the snowflakes swirl around me. 

So I get it.  Winter Wonderland.  YadaYadaYada.

But then I kept getting texts that indicate my social life has basically been cancelled--first Midnight Special, then Sacred Sounds, then my veggie dinner (I knew a text from Laura couldn't be far off)--and I soon found myself curled up in a fetal position with hot cocoa and Bailey's listening to Joanna Newsome music.

Thursday morning, starved for human contact, I trudge through the tundra to work at the theater office.  Suddenly. my luck began to turn around.  First, Laura informs me she is on her way after all!  And Sneha asks me if I'm doing anything and would I like to have dinner.

Um. YES.

So with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf playing on my MacBook, I set to work deciding on this week's cupcake.  While my car was finally back from the hospital (long story), I was loathe to choose any recipe  that would require ingredients I would have to drive to procure, as the thought of finding street parking in the blizzard was not a pleasant one.  And for the sake of not repeating myself (I am determined to bake through the entire book eventually) I decided on the Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes.  The one substitution I did make was I ran out of frozen strawberries, so I ended up mixing in some chopped frozen mango and cherries, which added an extra dimension of flavor and color.

My only real hesitation with this recipe was the method for making the velvet icing, which in involves the kind of multi-step process that always makes me feel like medieval alchemist.  I trusted Isa and Terry, however, and the result kind of blew my mind.  If you ever need a vegan whipped cream recipe for anything at all, this should be the only one you ever use from here on out.  

 Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

1 cup dairy free milk (minus 1 Tbsp to counteract the juiciness of your berries)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp cornstarch
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine, softened (like Earth Balance)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp lemon or orange extract (I just squirted some lemon juice, but I don't know if made any difference)
about 1 cup strawberries chopped into smallish pieces

Preheat your oven to 350F. Do your muffin liner thing or grease your muffin pan. Whisk the soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a small bowl and set aside 5-10 minutes to curdle.

Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Stir it up to combine. In a separate large bowl, cream the margarine and sugar for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and lemon extract. Now beat in the soymilk mixture and dry mixture in alternate separate batches just until combined. Don't over-beat or your cupcakes will get tough. You just want it to be combined.

Fold in the chopped strawberries. Fill your cupcake pan cups about 2/3 full. Bake 20 to 22 minutes. Set aside to cool on a wire rack. Make sure they're cool before you frost them!
Old-Fashioned Velvet Icing (from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup non-hydrogenated shortening
1/4 cup margarine
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup superfine, castor or powdered sugar

In a small saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the flour and soy milk. Stir constantly until the mixture starts to thicken and has a pudding-like consistency, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool 2 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and press plastic wrap onto the top of custard to prevent a skin from forming. Allow mixture to cool completely before the next step. (This is very important, as warm pudding will melt the shortening and margarine.) You can also put it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes if you're impatient.

Cream together the shortening, margarine, vanilla and sugar then beat in cold custard. Beat with an electric mixer for 4 to 6 minutes; frosting should become lighter in color and have a very creamy texture, similar to very thick whipped cream.

To assemble, take a teaspoon and scoop out the center of the cupcake and set the scooped-out part aside.  Next, fill the cupcake with chopped fruit.  Take a dollop of frosting and spread it over the cupcake.  Place the scooped out part on top of the frosting and then put a tiny drop of frosting on top of that.  Finally, take a slice of fruit and place it on the very top.  If this all sounds terribly confusing, just look at the picture:

And now the recipe--Flourless, Eggless, Dairy-free, Sugar-Free Fruit Pie of Deliciousness

This pie is very special to the Huberman family.  The genesis of the recipe comes from my Grandma Ruth, a vegan for over half a century who with my late Grandma Max, opened Youngstown, Ohio's first health food store in the 1950s.

My grandparents subscribed to the tenets of Natural Hygiene, which (and I'm totally paraphrasing here) maintained that fruits and vegetables had enough natural flavor without the addition of salt, butter, and oil.  In the place of these flavorings, Grandma came up with creative solutions like cooking rice in fresh celery or carrot juice and thickening her eggplant patties with ground up almonds.

About six years ago, Grandma began making fruit pies.   It's hard to remember a time before the pies began--throughout high school I only remember an unending stream of them that would appear and disappear from our refrigerator.  We ate them for breakfast, lunch, dessert, and midnight snacks.  While each pie contained the same basic elements (mainly, apples) , they were never the same twice.  One week would contain cherries, one week mangoes, one week coconut, one week pistachios.  When pressed for a recipe, Grandma would always shrug and say she didn't have one.

One year on break, I managed to assist on the process and found that the crust contained a combination of nuts, medjool dates and  manna (or essene) bread, which is a moist, sprouted bread and bound together with apple juice.  The filling, however was the real secret:  she would steam the fruit in apple juice before pouring it into the crust.  And while I had long assumed this was a raw pie, I discovered Grandma did in fact bake both the crust as soon as it's made and then the entire pie once assembled.  But though I now had access to this holy grail of culinary knowledge, I was not yet confident in myself as a cook to take the leap and make one myself, still dependent on exact measurements to guide me through.

This year, I went down to Florida to visit my Mom for her birthday, which falls on New Year's.  My Mom has always joked that she's always been ahead of the curve when it comes to food sensitivities.    In the 1970s, she was a vegan when health food stores were few and far between and Tiger's Milk was the only alternative to Hershey's.  By the time the options started to expand and Silk soy milk began running national ads in the late 1990s, Mom discovered she was allergic to gluten, further limiting.  Now this year, as even restaurants like Outback Steakhouse are happy to provide gluten-free menus, Mom has eliminated oil, salt, and anything resembling sugar as well.

This latest development posed a challenge to me as I prepared to make her a treat for her birthday, as the lack of oil and sugar basically eliminated the gluten-free baking mixes I had relied on in the past.  Taking a deep breath, I decided it was time to attempt a fruit pie of my own.

The one big modification I had to make for Mom was in the crust.  As manna bread contains gluten, I had to eliminate it and use extra dates and nuts, also adding dried apricots that my Grandma Maddy happened to have on hand.  As a guide, I looked up a recipe for a no-bake date-nut pie crust that I  doubled in order to make sure I had enough.  For the filling, I used a combo of apples, pineapple, frozen berries, and raisins.  While the original plan had been to steam it all in fresh apple juice as per Grandma Ruth's custom, a shortage of apples forced me to blend the apple juice with some fresh-squeezed pineapple, which gave the whole pie a refreshing lightness.  My only stumbling block was greasing the pan, as I was terrified that the crust would stick once baked.  I was able to convince Mom to consent to a tiny bit of coconut oil, but I would be happy to hear any other suggestions.

The result was an unqualified success, kicking off 2010 with licked lips and happy tummies.

And now for the recipe.

Flourless, Eggless, Dairy-Free, Sugar-free Fruit Pie of Deliciousness

Crust:

3 cups of unsalted nuts (I used almonds and pecans, but cashews, walnuts, pistachios, or just about anything else will do just fine)

6-12 pitted dates.  You can mix it up by adding other dried fruit like pineapple or apricots

1/4-1/2 tsp of cinnamon

1-3 tbsp of water or fruit juice, for binding crust together.

Filling:

4-5 granny smith apples, peeled cored and sliced.  Granny smith apples are recommended, but really any apples you have on hand will do just fine.

2-3 cups of some other fruit, something like mango, peach, pineapple, berries, cherries, etc.. Really, the possibilities are endless.

1/2 cup raisins

1-2 tsp cinnamon

Water or juice for steaming

Optional:  Berries or other fruit for decoration.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Begin by grinding nuts in a food-processor or blender until fine.  Next add dates and blend until mixture is sticky.  Add cinnamon and just enough liquid to hold mixture together.  Press crust into greased (if desired) pie plate, leaving about 1/3 cup aside for the crumb topping. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the crust just begins to harden (but not too much--it still has to go into the oven again later).

While the crust is baking, make the filling.  In a large bowl, combine apples, additional fruit, raisins, and cinnamon.  Fill a large steamer pot with about an inch of juice or water until barely touching the bottom of the steam basket.  Pour fruit into pot and steam for 20-30 minutes or until apples are tender.

Take the crust out of the oven and pour in the pie filling.  Don't worry if you've made too much for filling--any excess can be perfectly delightful atop ice cream, oatmeal, cupcakes or any other combination you can think of.  (Another fun variation that Grandma Ruth often does is mashing a soft persimmon over the filling, but as we didn't have persimmons this wasn't an option.)

Once filled, take the extra crust mixture and sprinkle atop the pie, covering it completely.  If you find you don't have any extra crust (as I did when I found someone who shall remain nameless gobbled it up), simply grind up some more nuts and dates. To decorate, arrange sliced fruit (berries and cherries work best) in an aesthetically pleasing pattern of your choosing.

Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the tops of the crumb topping begins to brown.

 Cut into slices and, if desired, top with your favorite vegan ice cream (in this case, Luna and Larry's Coconut Bliss).  Y'all know the next step:  eat and enjoy!

To Whet Your Appetites--Flourless, Eggless, Dairy-Free, Sugar-free Fruit Pie

Recipe to follow!

The Veggie Returns! Plus, a Christmas Quiche

So I am aware I have not posted since October.  I blame my chronic perfectionism.  See, I have had oodles of ideas for posts that I have even composed and recited in my head as I have made homemade frozen burritos (courtesy of my dear bestie Ben Herman),  baked to perfection vegan German Chocolate and Mint Chocolate cupcakes for the delight of my weekly meditation and vegetarian cooking group: 

and endured ridicule as cooed over the most adorable baby bok choy you can ever conceive

But then every time I sat down to compose an entry I found would have posts that seemed too long, some posts without adequate pictures, pictures of dishes I didn't feel were original enough for me to take credit for them or not healthy enough for my vegetarian blog.  I worried that I didn't have a strong enough concept for my blog--like perhaps it's not enough to just share recipes but I needed some sort of gimmick, like picking a different vegetable each week and writing about it.  Or only creating dishes whose titles contained the letters of my name.  I decided that because of my laziness, aversion to proofreading, and general lack of originality, I didn't deserve to have a voice in the blogosphere.  
All of this, as you can imagine, did wonders for my self-esteem.  


Still, I continued cooking. I mastered the art of the boiled egg.  I warmed my soul on rainy Jersey evenings with hearty lentil soup.

  


I turned chemist for a night as I manipulated agar agar flakes, corn starch, and tofu to create the vegan creme filling for Brooklyn vs. Boston Creme Pie Cupcakes. 

But then as thesis draft deadlines and internship applications began to up, I decided some silly thing like this wasn't a big priority anyway.  


But then my dad rented Julie and Julia for Christmas Eve.  I had seen the film several months earlier--it was, predictably, one of the motivating factors that led me to start my blog in the first place, Julie Powell coming up with one of the best gimmicks imaginable.    Watching it again, I was most struck with the point toward the end 


SPOILERS IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM 


Julie learns that her idol Julia Child does not consider her a serious cook at all.  Julie falls into meltdown, feeling like a failure.  But then her husband reminds her that it shouldn't matter what Julia Child thinks, who probably had never read the blog and doesn't know anything about her really.  The only person that matters is the Julia Child in her head, the one who has brought joy and purpose to her life.  

SPOILERS OVER

What it taught me was, so what if some people might find some of my postings long-winded.  So if I might not have much of a gimmick or if every post does not yield Julia Child-level brilliance.  Or even Paula Dean.  Maybe no publisher will ever decide my voice is worthy enough for a book deal.  But damned if the little Jewish mother in me still didn't get a thrill as roommates, classmates, and family members "mmm"-ed as they took the first bite of the food I created.  I like to food--eating and cooking it and I like to share my love of food with those I love.  And anything beyond that is simply icing on the cupcakes.  


And now for the recipe


Vegetarian Quiche Fluffed With Mayo


While I love quiche, I had never in fact made one before.  But with my success with boiling eggs and most recently a frittata behind me, I was on an egg roll.  After surveying a number of them online, I rested one from allrecipes.com that promised the optimum amount of fluffy goodness with the minimum amount of additional ingredients to purchase at Sparkle.  I modified the recipe slightly, taking the user comments suggestion to add an extra egg.  I decided to use fresh rather than frozen spinach as well as toss in a bit of nutmeg and salt and pepper to give it some flavor.   The only thing I wish I would have though to do was saute the onions before


So, without further ado:


1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1/2 cup milk
5 eggs, lightly beaten
8 ounces of shredded cheesed (I used a cheddar blend)
1/2 bag of fresh spinach
1/2 cup chopped onion
dash of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
1 9-inch pie shell (homemade or frozen, depending on ambition)
Sliced red pepper slices, mushrooms, or other veggies for decoration.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare crust in pie shell.


In a large bowl, whisk together mayo and milk.  Add eggs and beat until smooth.  Add nutmeg, salt, and pepper.


Layer spinach, onion, and cheese in shell--at least two layers of each.  Pour egg mixture over vegetables and cheese.


Arrange peppers, mushrooms or other sliced veggies over top of quiche in desired pattern.  Cover with foil.


Bake for 45 minutes.  Remove cover and cook for another 10-15 minutes, or until top is browned and filling is set and it looks something like:

Comfort Food in 5 Minutes: Nuked Fruit Crisp

Fruit crisp made with frozen peaches and granola

Everyone loves hot pie, but rarely do our schedules allow us the hour plus time it takes to cut and peel four or five apples, roll out dough, and bake it in the oven.  With a microwave, however, you can get the same sweet warm feeling in a single serving in under five 5 minutes.  This has been one of my go-to dishes for about a year now.  Usually I make it as a late-night snack when I take breaks from studying (or, you know, stalking people on facebook and trolling the "Mad Men" message board on IMDB).  Over the past month, however, I've found my nuked cobbler a fruity alternative to the standard, everyday oatmeal when I have to grab breakfast on the run.

There are a lot of different ways to go about this kind of dish, and mine varies depending on what I have on hand.  Normally I use old-fashioned oats squished together with brown sugar and Earth Balance veggie butter for the base of the topping, but I've also found this to be a great way to use up leftover granola.   Or for a more traditional cobbler topping, you can cream together butter, sugar, flour, and milk.

For the filling, the options are infinite.  I usually use apples because that's what I always have on hand, but I've also had excellent results throwing in peaches and sliced bananas.  And if you don't want to use white sugar, you can always sub agave, maple syrup, or honey.

The point is, this kind of a dish is far from an exact science.  If you don't have everything listed, don't panic:  wonderful discoveries can be made in the case of last-minute substitutions.  Necessity is the mother of of invention, and in this case, warm heavenly fruitniness.

Nuked Five-Minute Fruit Crisp

Fruit Filling:

1 cup sliced apples, peaches, pears, or any other pie fruit
1 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Optional:
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp basil (it came from Martha Stewart!)
Splash of fresh lemon juice
1 tsp chopped nuts
1 tsp raisins

Topping:
1 T granola
or
1 T old-fashioned oats
1 T butter or margarine
1 T brown sugar
1 tsp flour

Combine filling ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl, plastic container, or coffee cup.  Cream together topping ingredients and spread on top of fruit.  Microwave for 3-4 minutes.  Enjoy!

Pudding--Lisa; Lisa--Pudding

Like macaroni and cheese, bread pudding is one of those foods that immediately conjures up thoughts of warmth and comfort.

As with last edition's fried green tomatoes, my foray into bread pudding came as a continuation of my attempt to make use of the food items I acquired after Rosh Hashanah.  In addition to the green tomatoes and herbs, I inherited a bike-helmet-sized loaf of challah bread.  While I was able to make pretty good progress of the loaf in the first week, it soon became clear that consuming this entire loaf single-handedly was beyond my 5 foot 2 capacity.  I had considered freezing it as well, but at its current size it would still take up a significant portion of the freezer and I was loathe to further encroach on my roommates' territory.

While I did not intend to make this a vegan dish, I discovered most bread pudding recipes required 3-5 eggs and I was hesitant to use so many on an experimental dish while I still had another two weeks before my next planned grocery store trip.  I finally found a recipe for Easy Vegan Bread Pudding that contained all ingredients that seemed familiar to me.   But because I still had suspicions about the dish's ability to hold its form and thickness without eggs as a binder, I also found a recipe that used tofu as well.  In the end, I ended up using more of the first recipe, while simply blending the soymilk with a bit of tofu.  Unfortunately, I didn't pay close attention to the tofu-to-soymilk ratio, resulting in a mixture that was perhaps slightly more mushy than expected and I'm not sure how much of a difference the tofu made in the end.

Pudding Without Topping

For the topping, I took inspiration from the Tofu Sabayon Sauce recipe in John B. Nowakowski's Vegetarian Magic, eliminating the saffron/tumeric and using agave instead of brown rice or maple syrup.  And while I have had a rocky relationship with tofu in the past, tonight I found it a quick and easy way to create a thick, creamy sauce without the boiling or whipping involved when dealing with heavy cream or egg whites (though I still find it has a bit of an aftertaste that leaves something to be desired in terms of flavor).  While the sauce tasted perfectly luscious drizzled over the entire just-baked pudding, in retrospect I would probably leave it on the side for the sake of keeping the pudding from being too mushy.

Pudding with Topping

And so, without further ado, your recipe for instant fall comfort.

Vegan Bread Pudding

4 cups of day-old bread
2 1/2 cups soy milk
1/2 cup of silken tofu
3/4 cup sugar
1 banana, slicec
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp ground cinammon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put bread into greased (not sure if greasing is necessary, but I'm paranoid about these things) 9x9-inch baking pan.

In some sort of blending appliance, blend tofu and soymilk. Combine the soymilk-tofu rest of the ingredients in a large bowl and pour over the bread.  Stir to mix.

Bake pudding for 30-45 minutes, or until the mixture begins to hold its form.

While the pudding bakes, make the tofu vanilla cream sauce.

Tofu Vanilla Cream Sauce

One 12.3-ounce box of silken tofu
3/4 cup soymilk, almond milk, or rice milk
1/2 cup of brown rice syrup, maple syrup, or agave
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.

After draining the tofu, place all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.  Serve on top of individual slices of pudding.