Ingredients
Check off ingredients as you go
Makes 6 small glasses
- 60 g (⅓ cup) small tapioca pearls
- 400 ml (1⅔ cups) water
- 400 ml (1⅔ cups) coconut cream
- 40-50 g (3-4 Tbsp) sugar (light brown sugar preferably)
- a few drops vanilla extract (optional)
Tapioca comes from the cassava root, which is used in many countries, especially in Asia and Africa.
I really love this dessert because it has a soft, creamy texture, and even people who don’t like the denser texture of rice pudding, for example, enjoyed these little glasses.
- In a saucepan, bring the 400 ml of water to a boil, then add the tapioca and stir gently. Cook for 20 minutes and let cool a little. The pearls should be completely translucent.
- Drain the tapioca pearls in a fine-mesh sieve, stirring a little with a spoon to remove some of the sticky liquid. They’ll look a bit stuck together, that’s normal.
In a saucepan, bring the coconut cream to a boil with the sugar (if it’s lumpy, I recommend giving it a few seconds in the blender to get a nice smooth texture back). Pour in the tapioca pearls, stir, then turn off the heat.
Pour into small glasses and refrigerate for at least two hours, until ready to serve.
You can serve them as they are or topped with diced fresh fruit tossed with a little vanilla sugar. I like to serve this dessert with homemade cherries in syrup, but you can also add fresh fruit like mango, banana, kiwi, lychee, etc.
Tips
- Don’t skip the rinsing step for the tapioca, unless you like a denser, firmer texture.
- If you want a creamier texture that isn’t quite set, use 50 g of tapioca; for a texture that’s a little more set (without being gelatinous), I recommend 60 g.
- Note that kids don’t always love this dessert (more for you!).
- If you like, you can add some lemon zest at the end of step 3.