Tapioca

[Wendy DeBord]

owwww, would you mind giving more details on that inespm? Welcome to The eGullet Society For Arts & Letters!!

[inespm]

Thanks for the welcome and sorry for my english... The tapioca absorbs every juice that you like to use. First I cook it with water for a lot of time (until it get clear), after that I make a clear juice (very concentrate) of any kind ok fruit, vegetable or fruit. Put the tapioca on the juice, let it there for about 15 minutes and take it out. The result is like caviar, and is very nice for decoration

[FoodMan]

Thanks for the welcome and sorry for my english... The tapioca absorbs every juice that you like to use. First I cook it with water for a lot of time (until it get clear), after that I make a clear juice (very concentrate) of any kind ok fruit, vegetable or fruit. Put the tapioca on the juice, let it there for about 15 minutes and take it out. The result is like caviar, and is very nice for decoration

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Welcome to The eGullet Society For Arts & Letters inespm!

This is a pretty cool idea. I am sort of new to cooking with Tapioca, so far I only used it in a Vietnamese dessert along with coconut milk and banana, I think I undercooked it here though. I also tried it a Thai soup with crab and duck, this was spectacular.

However, I really like your idea. It can be used for so many things. I am assuming u are using the small pearl tapioca, correct? Do the larger ones absorb flavor the same way or wil they take much longer?

Elie

[inespm]

Thanks Elie. I cooked for about half hour in a lot of water, the small is perfect for decoring like caviar, the big ones I used like pearls over a oyster and with fruit juice for dessert in martini glass. I use the same time for big and small tapioca

[Wendy DeBord]

The result is like caviar, and is very nice for decoration

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Wow, I really like that idea. I've got to find a dessert or mini pastry to work that into or on. Thanks for sharing!!

[helenjp]

It took me a while to feel confident about cooking tapioca to get separate pearls for summery desserts, instead of a puddingy mass .

It will shed LOTS of starch into the cooking water, which always makes me worry that I will end up with nothing but paste, but it's OK as long as you stop cooking it as soon as the pearls are cooked right through.

I hope somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but what I do is:

1) Soak the tapioca in water for 1/2-1 hour and drain just before I cook it.

2) Scatter the tapioca into a pan of boiling water. Cook till you can't see any white "heart" to the individual tapioca pearls (watch carefully, you don't want to overdo it - some people leave just a speck of white, on the assumption that they will go on cooking, but I haven't managed to get that right).

3) Drain tapioca and immediately plunge into a bowl of iced water, stirring a little to break up any lumps of stuck-together tapioca. Now your tapioca will stay separate until you want to put it into coconut milk, syrup or whatever.

[helenjp]

Ooooh, I found the "better method"!

For one cup of tapioca (or sago), bring 6 cup of water (with a little sugar if you like) to the boil, pour in dry tapioca a little at a time, stirring, and boil gently for 5 mins or so till little outside of tapioca granules are clear, then slam lid on, turn heat off, and leave for around 15 mins till all white centers have turned clear.

Pour 3 cups of cold water into the tapioca, stir gently, and either pour into molds, or into syrup and chill.

[Chris Amirault]

Check out Amanda Hesser's piece on tapioca in the NYT Magazine -- from which the sig below is taken, fyi!

[origamicrane]

I like sago with mango and grapefruit

and i like pictures too hehehe

hope you like it

Recipe:

Should be enough for 8 large servings, and should be chilled in the fridge before serving.

1L water on a rapid boil, full heat

1 cup sago

While stirring the boiling water, slowly sprinkle the cup of sago into the water.

Make sure none of the sago sticks to the bottom of the pan.

Once you have poured in all of sago continue stirring and let it boil for 1 minute then turn off the heat.

Put the lid on.

The sago will still continue to bubble but as the heat is off there is no need to stir.

Let it sit for 5 minutes.

As you can see the sago is still quite white after 5 minutes.

At this point stir the sago and turn the heat back on full for 1 more minute

then turn the heat off and let it sit until the pearls are translucent.

This is what it should look like after sitting for 10 minutes

Don't worry if you have a few pearls that are still white in the middle.

Pour the sago into a sieve and rinse under runnng water until the pearls have cooled.

Allow the excess water to drain off and you are left with the perfect pearls.

Make a sugar syrup using 4 Tbs of sugar in 400ml of hot water (or to taste)

Let the sugar dissolve and then cool the sugar syrup in a fridge.

1x400ml can of coconut milk.

1 red grapefruit .

Peel the grapefruit, remove the pith (a la supreme) and then break the segments into small chunks.

1 ripe yellow Pakistani mango.

Cut cross hatched and scoop out flesh with a spoon.

Then combine the sago, sugar syrup, coconut milk , mango and grapefruit.

yummy

enjoy

Edited July 18, 2005 by origamicrane (log)

[EllenC]

This looks really good. I will try it.

[origamicrane]

let me know how you get on and if you like it.

Make sure the mango is super ripe and you could puree half the mango and dice the other half.

Another popular asian addition to the sago is diced boiled yam or taro.

Pomelo is good too but i think any fruit would go well with sago and coconut milk.

[SuzySushi]

Another popular variation here is banana tapioca, with sliced bananas (especially the local small "apple bananas" aka finger bananas that don't turn dark when sliced). Some places also make chocolate tapioca pudding (with coconut milk), I assume by adding cocoa or chocolate syrup while cooking.

[Ninjai Fanatic]

Origamicrane- looks good all right! :)

Sago is also nice with lots of milk or cream (thick stuff) and strawberries/blueberries/mango - just make sure that whatever fruit you're using is ripe. You can either put sugar or honey to sweeten it.. sometimes I even use a bit of condensed milk. Cook the sago (it's must easier and faster to cook after soaking it for several hours/overnight) in the cream/milk and then when it's nearly done you can put in the fruits and sugar... it's nice hot or cold. :) I'm sorry I've not got any pictures to post on here.. I don't have a camera :(

[chefcyn]

Hi, a few years ago I picked up a couple large (cheap) bags of little colorful zigzag thingies that said "Tapioca" on the label, but dodn't look like any tapioca I had ever seen. They were each about an inch long and came in many colors, clear, not opaque. Is this anything related to the tapioca that's being discussed here? I keep wondering what to do with it.

[origamicrane]

Hi, a few years ago I picked up a couple large (cheap) bags of little colorful zigzag thingies that said "Tapioca" on the label, but dodn't look like any tapioca I had ever seen.  They were each about an inch long and came in many colors, clear, not opaque.  Is this anything related to the tapioca that's being discussed here?  I keep wondering what to do with it.

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You bought it a few years ago and still haven't tried to make it???

it either something like cendol in which case just treat it like tapioca and soak and boil

or like cassava crisps that you fry??

is there and ingredients list on the package?

post some photos

Edited July 20, 2005 by origamicrane (log)

[Ninjai Fanatic]

^^ that's how I buy mine- just have to soak it overnight or so, then it's really easy/fast to cook- it'll only take around 10 minutes to cook.. they won't be as big as some of the other tapiocas but they're good all the same.

[FoodMan]

Ok, that stuf with the fruit looks amazing! So, what's sugo? Is it the name for small tapioca pearls? Can I use Tapioca instead?

Elie

[origamicrane]

Ok, that stuf with the fruit looks amazing! So, what's sugo? Is it the name for small tapioca pearls? Can I use Tapioca instead?

Elie

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sago ~= tapioca.

Sago and tapioca technically are different as they come from differnt plants but the end result is pretty much the same little gelatinous pearls.

They are pretty much interchangeable when used in desserts.

Edited July 20, 2005 by origamicrane (log)

[pennylane]

Hi guys. I have this tapioca flour which came in a bag which says that it's intended purpose is for fufu. I used it to make pao de queijo which turned out really well. However now I am wondering what else I can use it for. My Google research suggests that it can be used as a substitute for cornstarch. Coincidentally I have just run out of cornstarch, so this would be perfect - my only concern is that the tapioca flour has an odd smell. It kind of smells like manioc. I'm not sure I can use it in something like, for instance, chocolate pudding, because that smell might end up in the finished product. And it's rather puzzling because I haven't read anything which mentions this smell. The only possible clue I found is that apparently in Brasil there are two kinds of tapioca flour - "sweet" and "sour". Perhaps what I have is the sour variety?

I was hoping someone here could shed some light on this mystery.

[jackal10]

Tapioca starch is a principle component of prawn crackers (shrimp chips) and similar puffed snack foods http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=63405

[pennylane]

Tapioca starch is a principle  component of prawn crackers (shrimp chips) and similar puffed snack foods http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=63405

Okay, I read that thread, and you're the person who made the prawn crackers, so tell me, did your tapioca starch have that smell?

[jackal10]

No the tapioca is neutral, The prawn crakers taste of prowns (plus seasoning).

[TheSwede]

I just made soy "caviar" just for fun, boiled pearls infused in little japanese soy, rice vinegar and a pinch of sugar. Drain well just before plating. Beautiful light brown color - easily mistaken for some sort of fish roe.

I think it would work great with a slice of raw tuna.

Another use for tapioca pearls is of course Thomas Keller's "Oysters and Pearls":

Oysters and Pearls

Edited November 6, 2007 by TheSwede (log)

[GTO]

Heidi from 101 Cookbooks just did a post on Tapioca - Looks fantastic.

[Tropicalfox]

Looking for a tried and true recipe for Tapioca Pudding using medium to large pearls, not flour or crushed pearls. I want to surprise my husband with some for the weekend if possible.

Thanks in advance

Sandra