Mango Tapioca

Mango tapioca is a summer dessert, refreshing and easy to make. Plus, you can present it in a very elegant way if you want to impress the guests :) First time I tried it it reminded me of the rice pudding a bit and. Even tho I am not a fan of the rice pudding, this I found it amazingly tasty. Before starting the list of ingredients I want you to know that you need tapioca pearls (the smallest size). You can find in the Asian sections of the big stores or in the Asian supermarkets (this is what I found online at a first search ) In the images you can see more types of gels - coconut, mango or mint. On the basic recipe below you can add any type of jam or gel.  

• Difficulty: Easy
• Category: Glass dessert, Individual desserts, Summer
• Cuisine: Asian, International
• Cooking Method: boiling, no baking

Ingredients

Tapioca

• 125 g tapioca pearls
• 1 l coconut milk
• 150 ml water
• 125 g powder sugar
• 1 vanilla pod (split and scraped)

Marinated mango

• 1 pineapple
• 2 mangoes
• 3 passion fruits
• 100 g mango jam
• 1 lime (juice and zest)
• 100 ml sugar syrup (50 ml water boiled with 50 g sugar - chill before use)

Instructions

1. Put the milk, water and the split vanilla pod to boil.
2. When it starts to boil, add the tapioca pearls and mix gently until the pearls become transparent.
3. See in the image the staging of cooking. Only the third image has the pearls boiled properly.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to cool overnight or at least until it gets to room temperature. The next day add the sugar and mix gently so as not to crush the pearls. If it seems too solid you can add coconut milk until it reaches the desired consistency.
5. Cut the fruits into 1cm cubes and leave them to marinate for 30 minutes in a lime juice syrup, zest and sugar syrup. Before plating the dessert, remove the mango and pineapple pieces and put them on a napkin to absorb the excess syrup.
6. For plating you can use large glasses or simple transparent jars. Pour the tapioca pearl paste into a pastry bag or ziplock bag and cut a corner. It will help you a lot when you assemble the dessert without soiling the glass.
7. Put a 3 cm layer of tapioca on the bottom of the glass, add a teaspoon of mango jam, then cover it with pieces of fruit, flower petals and mint.