Coconut is an ingredient strongly associated with Hawaii
and here it is combined with tapioca for one of my favorite recipes, tapioca
pudding. Using the slow cooker to make this delicious treat
(or tasty dessert) saves time because the tapioca pearls are not presoaked. However, while this
recipe is simple, it requires more attention than first seems necessary. For example, overcooking occurs in a matter
of minutes, so as the pudding thickens, it is necessary to check it often. On the other hand, my last batch seemed thick
at only 1 ½ hours in the slow cooker, so I turned it off. When I returned in
two hours, the pudding was watery. I cooked it for another hour in the slow cooker, and it
was perfect. A caveat: Every slow cooker is different.
A little background information: The coconut (Cocos
nucifera) is a member of the palm family (Arecacae). The fruit is botanically a “drupe” (stonefruit)
not a nut and has many uses. The palm produces both the female and male flowers
on the same group or cluster of flowers (monoecious). The earliest description
of the coconut palm is about 545AD. All
of this information and more is found at Wikipedia.
Tapioca which comes from cassava (Manihor esculenta) is a
carbohydrate and thus a poor source of protein. Unprocessed cassava has antinutritional and
toxic factors, particularly cyanogenic glucosides which on hydrolysis release
hydrocyanic acid. Thus, cassava must be
properly prepared in order to be safely consumed. Tapioca is the starch of the
cassava and safe to use, often as a thickening agent. It is also gluten-free.
Recipe:
Put into a slow cooker:
½ C small dry pearl tapioca (do not presoak)
2/3 C sugar (less can be used)
4 C liquid (1 Can coconut milk and water to 4 C.)
1 Tsp vanilla (added towards end of cooking, or as pudding
cools)
Stir the above ingredients (except for vanilla), then cover
and cook on low in slow cooker. Stir after
1 hour. At 2 hours the mixture will
begin to thicken, so I stir it and then stir it again every fifteen minutes. In my cooker the tapioca is thickened at 2 ½
hours, and I turn it off. Experiment
with the time and the consistency of the pudding in your slow cooker. I like the pearls to be whole but not hard in
the middle. If it cooks too long, the consistency becomes too thick and gelatinous. There is a perfect consistency, and once you
find it, you will never go back to soaking the tapioca and cooking it on the stove top.
