Tapioca pudding
Tapioca pudding is naturally gluten and dairy free, and its entire difficulty comes down to one question: are the pearls translucent yet. A white dot in the centre means raw starch and an unpleasantly hard core — cook them all the way.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Soaking the pearls 30 min
- Cooking 20 min
- Chilling 90 min
Step by step
0 / 5 doneSoak the pearls
Cover the tapioca with cold water and leave for 30 minutes. The pearls swell, so they cook faster and more evenly. Drain but do not rinse — the surface starch thickens the pudding.
Ingredients: 100 g tapioca · 500 ml water · 400 ml coconut milk · 80 g sugar · ¼ tsp salt · 1 tsp vanilla extract · 1 pcs lime
Swollen pearls cook faster and more evenly.Cook in water
Bring 500 ml of water to the boil, add the drained tapioca and cook 10 minutes, stirring often so it does not stick to the base. The pearls start turning glassy.
Ingredients: 100 g tapioca · 500 ml water · 400 ml coconut milk · 80 g sugar · ¼ tsp salt · 1 tsp vanilla extract · 1 pcs lime
TipStir really regularly. Tapioca sticks to the base easily and scorches before you smell it.
Add the coconut milk
Pour in the coconut milk, add the sugar and salt and cook another 8–10 minutes over low heat until the pearls are completely translucent, with no white dot in the centre. Stir in the vanilla and lime zest.
Ingredients: 100 g tapioca · 500 ml water · 400 ml coconut milk · 80 g sugar · ¼ tsp salt · 1 tsp vanilla extract · 1 pcs lime
Not one white dot — only then is it done.Chill for an hour and a half
Pour into glasses, let cool and chill for 90 minutes. The pudding thickens noticeably — if it sets too stiff, loosen it with two tablespoons of coconut milk.
Ingredients: 100 g tapioca · 500 ml water · 400 ml coconut milk · 80 g sugar · ¼ tsp salt · 1 tsp vanilla extract · 1 pcs lime
Serve with mango
Dice the mango and arrange on the pudding. Scatter toasted coconut flakes and add a mint leaf. Juicy, slightly tart mango is needed here — the pudding itself is mild and sweet.
Ingredients: 1 pcs mango · 30 g coconut flakes · ¼ bunch mint
Before you start
Large pearls
Large pearls (5–8 mm) need soaking for several hours, then 20–30 minutes of cooking and a rest under a lid. This recipe assumes small pearls, about 2 mm.
Warm version
Serve straight after cooking, without chilling. It is looser and closer to the sweet tapioca and coconut milk soups popular across South-East Asia.
Other fruit
Pineapple, passion fruit, lychee and banana all suit it. Add the fruit just before serving so it does not release juice and thin the top.
