This delicious dessert is gluten free and vegan and honestly was so delicious we couldn’t stop devouring it. I think it’s best served warm, but not too hot, if you let is set for about 30-60 minutes straight off the stove it will be perfect! The jaggery or dark brown raw sugar gives it a deeper more caramel style flavour, and also darkens the colour of the pudding which offsets the white coconut cream beautifully.
You will need:
1/2 cup tapioca or sago pearls
3 cups of water
the juice of 3 lemons, if they’re small make it 4
1/2 cup jaggery (or dark brown raw sugar)
Finely grated lemon zest of two lemons
Roughly grated lemon zest of remaining lemons (see method for more descriptions)
1/2 tin of coconut cream
3 tablespoons maple syrup
Firstly, deal with the lemons, juicing and zesting. The juice can go straight into a saucepan (large enough to hold 5-6 cups of water, so medium sized). Zest your first two lemons on the fine part of the grater into the lemon juice, then with a small knife, in strips, cut away the lemon zest from the other lemon/s. Flip the little pieces over and cut away any of the white part of the flesh as it will make it taste bitter. Then roughly chop with a knife, so they’re about the size of slightly larger sesame seeds. So kind of chunky but not too big you’ll have to chew on them in the dessert! Add to lemon juice. Add three cups of water and then stir through the tapioca or sago pearls on a high heat until hot then lower to a simmer. This part takes about 15-20 mins, you’ll have to keep gently stirring through, not continuously per se, but don’t let it sit longer than a minute or two without stirring. The pearls will begin to thicken up and go translucent. Whilst this is happening, you take the tin of coconut cream, and maple syrup and blend together in a blender. You could try whisk it hard if you need to. You want to break up all the coconut fat and have it blended with the coconut water.
Then after about 15-20 mins the pearls will be cooked, puffed up and it should look all creamy. They wont be 100% translucent and that’s okay. Then add your sugar and stir to combine. Our the whole thing into a dish that you want to serve the dessert into, and then top with the blended coconut cream. It will kind of rest on top, that’s good, and then when you serve it it will naturally stir through. Serve to hungry people that appreciate desserts that aren’t too sweet, but are incredibly tangy and creamy!
Enjoy,
Jac x