Adventures in Tapioca-ing

So I drove home to my mom’s house last week for my grandmother’s birthday, and, as usual, my mother had deliciousness afoot. We had stuffed red bell peppers and tomatoes filled with a mix of veggies and either ground turkey or boca grounds, depending on hippie…er…meat-eating status. My brother and I snuck into the kitchen and put cheese in ours, too, because we think alike. But on to the point of this story.

For dessert, my mom had dug up a new recipe that was definitely not one of her old standards: tapioca pudding. She had sweetened it with maple syrup instead of sugar and added cardamom and what tasted like cinnamon and maybe nutmeg. And it was reeeal tasty. But it was also instant tapioca. So my inner kid-who-likes-to-play-with-chemistry-kits and inner food snob convinced me to try making it on my own. From scratch!

So I went to my local over-priced organic health food store and picked up some small pearl tapioca, and I talked my sweetie into hanging out with me while I had at it. I made a couple of seemingly-harmless substitutions (coconut milk for cow milk and molasses for sugar), and an hour or so later, I had a fantastic, gritty, gooey mess.

I wouldn’t even let Cute Face try it.

Not discouraged, I decided to soak some more tapioca overnight and give it another go in the morning. I deviated from the recipe substantially less the next day, and it finally turned out almost perfect.

I think I’ll leave perfect for another day, and move onto another project for now.

The Recipe!

• 1/2 cup small pearl tapioca
• 5 cups milk, divided (whipping cream or water can be substituted for 2 of the cups)
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup sugar (or to taste)
• 2 eggs (optional: it will just take slightly longer to thicken without them)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (if you want a subtly flavored pudding, like me, careful not to overdo the vanilla)
• ground cardamom to taste or 2-3 cardamom pods
• other spices and extracts to taste

Once you get your small pearl tapioca home, soak it overnight in 2 cups of the milk (or water or whipping cream…yumm) in your fridge. The next day, drain your tapioca and throw it into your thickest-bottomed sauce pan with 3 cups of milk, salt, sugar, cardamom, and (if using them) eggs. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly to avoid scorching the milk. If using cardamom pods, remove them after about 10 minutes, or when the pudding tastes cardamom-y enough for you. Cook until the pudding has thickened and the tapioca has turned from white to translucent all the way through: about 15-25 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Serve warm or let chill — chilled pudding will be thicker. Top with berries! Molasses! Brown sugar! Slices of peach with whipped cream! Go wild!