A very old-fashioned dessert but new to me - I can't resist a bargain bin, so when a packet of tapioca wound up in there for twenty cents, I took it home, determined to learn how to cook the stuff.
It was easy, and tasty!
First, I combined 1 cup of tapioca and 3 cups of milk and bought that to the boil. I let it simmer for 5 minutes or so until the tapioca looked soft and swollen. Then, I slowly stirred in half a cup of sugar, and once that had mixed in nicely, I added two beaten eggs. (some of our chooks lay blue eggs, so I used two of these. They're the same on the inside - but like all home-grown stuff taste much nicer than the stuff from the supermarket).Finally I added a healthy dose of vanilla (I love vanilla so I'm always generous when adding it to things), and I stirred the mixture until it became thick and porridge like. To serve I added a light sprinkle of cinnamon on top, just because it goes so nicely with vanilla flavoured things.
The result pleased everyone who tried it - it tasted like vanilla custard, with a satisfying chewy texture. It was nice hot, and was enjoyed cold the next day, too.
A word of warning - just like porridge, this will set like concrete if you don't attend to your saucepan and bowls quickly once you're done with them. Pretty sure you could use this to repair your house if you needed to.
This is a really cheap dessert that is very easy to make - just the thing for the hungry hordes who hopefully ask, "Is there dessert?"
