We love travelling and although many of our travels were reserved for the pre-children years, we try to get down to the southern hemisphere as frequently as we can. My hubby's from New Zealand and we just can't get there as often as we'd like. If anyone ever develops a teleportation device, we're first in the queue. But the next best thing is having our kiwi family come to stay in London. My sister-in-law came for the first month of our summer hols and as well as making lots of new memories, we spent a large part reminiscing about all the amazing times we've had in NZ. It's such a beautiful country and if you love food - fab restaurants, farmers' markets, fresh produce, stunning wine. Last time we were out celebrating NYE in Auckland, we went to a great little southeastern asian fusion restaurant Mekong Baby and had some wonderful sharing dishes including a lovely pud of Coconut Sago.
Sago is a lot like tapioca and can be used to make puddings, pancakes and biscuits. The consistency looks a little like chia or fish eggs (whichever of the two sounds more appealing?!) and makes a delicious Coconut Sago Pudding. It's gluten and dairy free or vegan if you prefer. That NYE dinner was my first introduction to sago but I came home wanting to recreate it in my own kitchen. My boys love rice pudding and love this version which is music to my ears as I'm always searching for new and interesting recipes for the boys that avoid their allergies (dairy and nuts being two of them).
I use rice milk and tinned coconut milk to make the pudding (I think tinned coconut milk makes this creamier and more luxurious). To sweeten it, I use honey although you could use agave syrup if you want to make it completely vegan. You can choose any topping you like (think grilled banana, puffed rice or your favourite delight) and I chose passionfruit for this as I thought it was perfectly summery in colour and taste.
This is a beautiful chilled summer pudding, but if you eat it warm...it's absolutely incredible. I promise you.
Passionfruit and Coconut Sago Pudding
adapted from Coconut Tapioca Pudding by the The Kitchn
Ingredients
- 480ML RICE MILK
- 1/3 CUP SAGO (use tapioca pearls if you don't have sago)
- 240ML TINNED COCONUT MILK
- 80ML HONEY
- 1 TSP VANILLA EXTRACT
- 1 TSP CORNSTARCH
- 1/4 TSP SALT
- 1 PASSIONFRUIT (seeds and flesh only)
Method
- Soak the sago (or tapioca pearls) in 240ml rice milk overnight in the fridge
- When you're ready to make the pudding, put this mixture into a medium saucepan with the remaining 240ml rice milk
- Mix the cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water and the salt and put aside
- Warm the mixture until it's boiling and then add the coconut milk, vanilla and honey
- Cook it for 10 minutes, stirring continuously
- Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan and continue to heat it for another 5 minutes, stirring continuously
- Now you can eat it at this stage and it's absolutely amazing - or you can cool it down
- If you're planning to serve it cold, transfer it to a heatproof bowl and allow to cool
- Divide the pudding between 4 bowls and pop in the fridge
- Remove them 30 mins before serving
- The little puddings develop a skin when left for a while so remove this and give each bowl a good stir
- Scoop out the insides of a passionfruit and add a little to the top of each pudding