Cardamom yogurt pudding with grapefruit and cardamom honey syrup

I’d never tasted anything with cardamom – seen in many recipes, it made me curious a bunch of times but not enough for me to buy it.
The event on “Colher de Tacho” (the blog with events for blogs written in Portuguese) was the perfect excuse for me to try it. And the conclusion is: I shouldn’t have waited that long. :D

This dessert is fabulous: a few ingredients, simple to make and a visually rich result. Not to mention the flavor – delicious.

The original recipe called for orange and cinnamon for the syrup. I decided to use cardamom for both the pudding and the syrup and grapefruit instead of orange.
The grapefruit was a bit bitter so next time I’ll definitely use orange.

Cardamom yogurt pudding with grapefruit and cardamom honey syrup

130g (½ cup) plain whole-milk yogurt
1 ½ tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons water
½ teaspoon unflavored gelatin
pinch ground cardamom
1 grapefruit
1 tablespoon mild honey (preferably orange blossom)
Small pinch cardamom

Whisk together yogurt, sugar, and vanilla in a small bowl until sugar is dissolved. Put water in a very small saucepan and tilt pan so that water is on one side, then sprinkle gelatin and cardamom evenly over water. Let stand 1 minute to soften. Heat mixture over low heat, stirring, until gelatin is dissolved, about 30 seconds – be careful not to boil gelatin or it won’t solidify the pudding. Whisk hot gelatin into yogurt until combined well. Pour yogurt into a 240ml (1 cup) ramekin and chill, covered, until set, about 1 ½ hours.

While yogurt is chilling, cut peel and white pith from grapefruit with a sharp knife. Working over a small bowl, cut segments free from membranes from half of grapefruit, letting segments fall into bowl, then squeeze 1 tablespoon juice from remaining half of orange and, if necessary, from membranes.

Bring grapefruit juice, honey, and cardamom into a simmer in cleaned very small saucepan, stirring, then simmer until reduced to about 1 tablespoon, about 1 minute. Add grapefruit segments to syrup, gently stirring to coat. Cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes.
Run a thin knife around edge of ramekin to loosen pudding, then dip ramekin into a bowl of hot water 30 seconds and invert pudding onto a plate.
Spoon syrup over pudding and arrange grapefruit around side.

Yogurt pudding can be chilled up to 1 day.

Serves 1