Monday, March 29, 2010

Playing with Pearl Tapioca

Ever since his business trip to Taiwan a year ago, my husband has been obsessed with bubble tea. He craves it like I crave ice cream. It’s the chewy texture of the tapioca pearls that he loves so much. His craving for bubbles led me to a startling realization: I didn’t know the first thing about tapioca. Can you believe I'd never cooked or even eaten tapioca in my entire life? So I picked up a package of small pearl tapioca and one of large pearl tapioca to play with. My trial run with the small pearls, which I based on a loose guess about what proportion of tapioca to liquid to use, was a great success. Even Hubby, who’s definitely NOT a coconut lover, loved the Coconut Tapioca Pudding I made. Let’s just say my experiments with the large pearls continue…


Coconut Tapioca Pudding
Printable Recipe

1/3 cup small pearl tapioca
1 13 ½-ounce can coconut milk
¼ cup sugar
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice

Place the tapioca into a small saucepan, add enough water to cover by several inches, and bring to a boil. Drain, rinse with cold water to remove the excess starch, and drain again. Return the tapioca to the saucepan and add the coconut milk and sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring frequently, for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the tapioca pearls are tender and clear all the way through. Remove from the heat and stir in the milk and lime juice. Let cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate overnight before serving.

Serves 4. Taste often to test for doneness—the tapioca pearls will have no trace of white in the center when they are ready. If you like, add a tiny bit of finely grated lime zest along with the lime juice. The pudding can be served immediately after it’s made, but I like the texture much better once it thickens overnight. Serve topped with fresh tropical fruit.

10 comments:

A Bowl Of Mush said...

This looks so tropical and delicious! I LOVE anything coconut!

Jill G. said...

I must make this, and soon. Looks delicious!

Dewi said...

Lovely. I have a bag of this tapioka in my pantry, and not really sure what to do. Thanks for the idea.

Trendsetters said...

great for the summer heat

Anonymous said...

You know what is great about this recipe is the list of ingredients make it a natural for so many with food intolerances. It ia gluten free, and egg free and some could replace the milk with milk substitute. You probably were shooting for that but I noticed that right off.

HungryC said...

Hi. In Malaysia, we love tapioca. One of the things we do is boil the tapioca in water until it's soft, then we add sugar and boil it over slow fire till it's caramelised. In another pot, we boil thick coconut milk w a bit of salt till it is creamy. The caramelised tapioca and coconut cream combination is absolutely divine, though it looks real plain.

veron said...

I miss tapioca desserts specially with coconut milk and topped with mango. This so reminds me of home.

Unknown said...

Gosh I must find me some of these tapioca pearls this looks awesome. can sago pearls be used to make this?

Lucy Vaserfirer said...

WizzyTheStick,
I’ve read that sago pearls and tapioca pearls can be used interchangeably , but I don't know from personal experience as I’ve never used sago pearls myself.

Linda M. Dow said...

My twist, is to leave out the fruit, and just add vanilla, cinnamon, and toast the coconut flakes, to get that toasty flavor, and a light crispy crunch. I love it served warm, with whipped cream on top.

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