Until recently, I'd never made any kind of pudding.
Don't worry though, I've eaten plenty of them though had never felt the pull to make them myself.
And then I visualised this recipe.
It ticked all the boxes - easy, made from real food and sweetened by luscious tropical fruit because, why not?
First up - what the heck actually is tapioca? It's a starch (hence why it's so gluggy if you've ever cooked with it) and comes from cassava; a root crop. Tapioca pearls are widely available, and popular in Southeast Asia and from my experience here in Australia, predominantly available in dried form which means they'll be white. They swell considerably when cooked and if you've ever made rice paper rolls like these and these, the yummy, rubbery-type texture in the actual rice paper rolls is usually tapioca starch. It's magic!
The colour and tang of the passionfruit combined with the sweetness of mango and citrus hits from the lime, perfectly balances out this creamy pudding and it's one we've continued to make (and enjoy!) throughout the summer.
You could make it ahead of time or leave in the fridge in an airtight container and enjoy throughout the week.
Essentially, just make it. Yum.
- ½ cup tapioca pearls
- 2 ½ cups almond milk
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 400mL can coconut milk
- 2 large eggs yolks
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- 2 medium mangoes
- Zest, ½ lime
- Juice, ½ lime
- 2 passionfruit
- Combine the tapioca, milk, vanilla and salt together in a medium-sized saucepan
- Bring to a simmer over a medium heat then lower heat and cook, whisking occasionally, until the tapioca is translucent and tender for 8-10 minutes
- Once tender, gradually whisk in the coconut milk
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks with the sugar
- Once tapioca is cooked, whisk in half of the warm mixture to the egg mix
- Continue whisking and then pour the egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan
- Continue cooking the pudding over a low heat stirring occasionally, until starting to thicken for approximately 5 minutes
- Once thickened slightly, transfer mixture to a bowl and let cool to room temperature before refrigerating until chilled (around 2 hours)
- Whilst pudding chills, make the fruit mix by blending together the flesh of one mango, fine zest and juice of ½ lime
- Finely dice the remaining mango and combine in a bowl with the mango puree and passionfruit seeds
- Once chilled, bring the pudding to room temperature for around 30 minutes and layer the fruit mix with the pudding in glasses to serve
