Honeyed Tapioca Pudding

Both tapioca and rice pudding remind me of many after supper desserts growing up. I always loved twirling my spoon in the warm tapioca before each bite and I’d always groan whenever someone joked that the pudding looked like fish eyes or eggs, which someone always did whenever it’s served.

I made some adjustments to this recipe from Super Natural Everyday. For one thing, I put the kibosh on adding rose water. Years ago I made my own rose water and very quickly suffered a cluster headache. Ever since, I can’t tolerate the strong smell of rose (and a few other scents) without feeling nauseous. I also lessened the amount of honey finding the original amount almost sickeningly sweet. Perhaps I was using too strong a honey the first time around. The chopped pistachios really make this treat.

Here’s what I did:

Honeyed Tapioca Pudding

• 3 cups Milk (I used almond)
• 1/3 cup small pearl Tapioca
• 2 large Egg Yolks, lightly beaten
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1 -2 tbsp Honey
• zest of 1 small lemon
• chopped Pistachios or sliced Raspberry

1. Pour 1 cup of the milk into a medium pot. Add the tapioca and soak for 30- 60 minutes.
2. Whisk in the egg yolks, salt, honey and remaining milk.
3. Over medium low heat, slowly bring the mixture barely to a boil, stirring regularly. This should take about 15 minutes. Decrease the heat and let the mixture fall to a gentle simmer. Keep it there, stirring, until the tapioca is fully cooked, another 20 minutes or so. The time needed can be significantly longer or shorter depending on the size of the tapioca pearls you’re using. The tapioca will tell you when it is ready, if you watch carefully; the pearls will swell up and become almost entirely translucent. The custardy part of the pudding will thicken dramatically as well. Continue tasting and assessing at the stage. It is even more critical to keep stirring at this point to avoid scorching.
4. Remove from heat, stir in the lemon zest, then let the pudding cook a bit; it will thicken more as it cools. The tapioca tastes best served warm topped with tasted pistachios, but is delicious cold as well.