Slow Cooker Coconut Tapioca Pudding

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. 

Lilikoi Posset

The story behind this blogpost begins in Northern Ireland at the Belle Isle School of Cookery in Enniskillen, where I spent an incredible month on a 200 acre rural estate cooking with Master Chef Liz Moore. (See, www.irishcookeryschool.com) However, in the interests of space, this blogpost will focus on only one of Chef Moore’s dessert recipes—posset. What the heck is a posset?

According to my research posset began as a British hot drink, originally of curdled milk with wine or ale, often spiced, and used in the Middle Ages as a cold and flu remedy.  After the 16^th Century possets were made from lemon or other citrus juice combined with cream, sugar and often eggs.  Posset sets used for mixing and serving the drinks were popular gifts and heirlooms.  A crystal and gold posset set given by the Spanish ambassador to Queen Mary I of England and King Phillip II of Spain when they betrothed in 1554 (believed made by Benvenuto Celini) is on display at Hatfield House in England.

Posset in its modern form refers to a dessert most often made with lemon, cream and sugar and usually chilled (although I also enjoy it warm). When cold, it is similar in consistency to a smooth mousse. An internet search yields many quick, easy and full-proof posset recipes.  While I have made this enchanting dessert with either lemon or lime, my favorite local (i.e., Hawaii) citrus to use is lilikoi (aka passion fruit, shown sliced in half in the above photo). 

Lilikoi are about the size and color of a lemon with a tart, seedy pulp (shown in photo). The fruit forms within 80 days of flowering on vines that climb over 20 feet per year on trees or telephone poles. The vines (often considered yard pests like the morning glory vine) maintain good productivity for 4-6 years. Although seasonal, lilikoi is available almost year round in Hawaii. The juice also freezes well.

For more practical information, see, Passiflora edulis var. flavicarpa (yellow passion fruit) and this website for photos and discussion of 34 related species:  www.tradewindsfruit.com

On the mainland, passion fruit can be found at Asian markets that import fruits and vegetables or online at Amazon.com. The recipe for Lilikoi Posset is below:

2 C cream (1 pint whipping cream)

1/2 C sugar (I have used only 1/3 C)

1/3 to 1/2 C lilikoi juice (juice of 2 lemons, if using lemon)

1/2 Tsp vanilla (optional; I do not use vanilla with lilikoi)

In a saucepan, bring the cream to a rolling boil and maintain for 3 minutes (I time it). Remove from stove and whisk in sugar and juice, then pour into ramekins and chill (8 hours or overnight to ensure it is firm). Use small ramekins (I use espresso cups) and serve with a fresh raspberry or mint leaf on top.  Enjoy. 

Hawaiian Cookery

This post refocuses my blog from old, rare and unusual books (see previous posts) to cookbooks: specifically Hawaiian cookbooks and selected recipes. The photo above is of a 1964 Peter Pauper publication; a lovely little book that aptly illustrates my intent.

While planned future posts will emphasize recipes with less familiar ingredients like lilikoi (i.e., passion fruit), I begin with pineapple because it is strongly associated with Hawaii. Del Monte and Dole began large scale pineapple production in Hawaii in the early 1900s. Pineapple can be purchased at our farmers’ markets, local grocery stores and Costco all year. Pineapple juice which is used in the recipe below, is readily available everywhere. With minimum effort, pineapple plants grow and fruit in Hawaii’s yards or even in a large pot on the lanai. Home grown fruits are smaller but also sweeter. As an interesting aside: white pineapple is a tasty, local (mainly Big Island) and seasonal fruit, which has a lower acid content. Although twice the price, I always buy white pineapple when available.

Years ago I copied a recipe for “King Kamehameha Pie” from the Honolulu newspaper and have made it many times. The ingredients are inexpensive and the final product is a lovely chilled pineapple/apple dessert.  According to my internet research, “King Kamehameha Pie” (www.allrecipes.com) won 3^rd place in a Better Homes and Gardens Contest in November 1970, as submitted by Clara Tanner.   

Here are the ingredients for King Kamehameha Pie:

1 12 oz can (1 ½ C) pineapple juice

¾ C sugar

7 medium cooking apples, peeled and sliced (see notes below)

3 T cornstarch

1 T butter

 ½ Tsp vanilla

1 9 in baked pastry shell (see notes below for alternative crumb crust)

¼ C whipped cream, sour cream or vanilla yogurt (optional)

Chopped macadamia nuts (optional)

Here are the directions:

Reserve ¼ C pineapple juices. Combine 1 ¼ C pineapple juice and sugar, bring to boil and add apple slices.  Simmer covered until tender but not soft (3-4 minutes). Lift apples from syrup and set aside on plate to drain (pour any syrup on plate back into pan). Combine cornstarch and ¼ C pineapple juices, add to pan and cook until syrup is thickened and bubbly, then 1 minute more.  Remove from heat, add butter and vanilla and cool 10 minutes without stirring.  Pour and spread up to half of syrup into baked pastry shell. Arrange apple slices in fan shaped layers and spoon remaining syrup over.  Chill.  Before serving, garnish center of pie with whipped cream, sour cream or vanilla yogurt and sprinkle with chopped macadamia nuts. 

Notes:  It is important to slice apples uniformly about ¼ inch each, and do not cook them too long (they should be easy to cut but still firm). The sauce barely covers the apples.  Internet photos show this pie made with apple chunks but it is much prettier when the slices are fanned out in circles from the middle. As an alternative crust combine 1 ¼ C crushed vanilla wafers and macadamia nuts with 5T butter and 3T sugar, press into pie pan and bake 5 minutes in the oven. Enjoy with aloha. 

Romance in South Seas

Featured in the photo above is the lovely dust jacket of a romance of the south seas written by Robert Dean Frisbie and published only three years before the author’s death in 1945 (hardback with dust jacket).  According to Wikepedia, Frisbie was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and was an American writer who moved to the south pacific after World War I to improve his poor health.  He settled in Tahiti, married, and fathered five children.  Throughout his lifetime, Frisbie penned numerous travel articles and stories for U.S. publications.  He maintained friendships with other writers, and allegedly Charles Nordhoff and James Hall (think, Mutiny on the Bounty) encouraged Frisbie to write a narrative about his life on Pukapuka (book of the same name published in 1929). 

Despite residing in the south pacific and enjoying life as a writer, Frisbie’s days were not uniformly happy.  He married in 1928, at age 32, and his wife bore him five children before she died in 1939, leaving Frisbie with five young children to rear on his own.  Only three years later in 1943, Frisbie was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and although he continued to travel and write, he died in 1948 of an apparent tetanus infection.  His children were raised by friends and relatives in New Zealand and Hawaii.

A prolific writer of nonfiction travel articles, Frisbie published several novels including Amaru.  Online research indicates that demand (thus cost) of PukaPuka is higher than that for Amaru.  Perhaps PukaPuka, as a memoir, is more sought after.  One of his children, Florence Frisbie, wrote two books, Miss Ulysses of Puka-Puka (Macmillan, 1948) and The Frisbies of the South Seas (Doubleday, 1959).  Be on the lookout for both books which according to online research are difficult to obtain (costly). 

The Magic Behind Magic

If you aspired to the magical as a child, grew up practicing card tricks and sleight of hand, or just enjoyed the obvious skill involved in a good magic show, then "The Encyclopedia of Stage Illusions" by Burling Hull (Ormand McGill, editor) will send a chill up your spine. While the book doesn’t disclose every detail of every stage illusion, it does include enough diagrams and explanations to please both aficionados and neophytes. "The Encyclopedia" was published in a limited edition of 500 copies in 1980 by Magic Ltd. Unfortunately for the publisher, some of the stage illusions were not cleared for copyright before publication and a lawsuit ensued requiring the publisher to recall the book. Fortunately for collectors and magicians some copies were not returned and are still available on the used book market. "The Encyclopedia" is a special book best perused by those who don’t mind knowing the trick behind the illusion, and best left unread by those for whom life is but an illusion.

This oversize and thick book (at 374 pages) was published with a dust jacket over heavy black covers (see actual photo) that have held up well. We doubt this book can be found in a public library (but we have been wrong before). More interesting information on Burling Hull, a magician, prolific author and inventor (who died in 1982) can be found at Wikepedia.com and illusionwiki.com.

The Hound of Heaven

Above is a photo of the cover of one of the most famous poems penned by Francis Thompson (pictured edition published by Morehouse-Barlow Co. in 1980 and illustrated by Jean Young). Thompson was born in 1859 in Lancashire, England and led a troubled life of ill-health, poverty and an addiction to opium; he died at age 48 from Tuberculosis (Wikipedia). He moved to London in 1885 and sent a manuscript to Wilfred Meynell who edited the Catholic periodical “Merry England.” Meynell and his wife Alice evidently recognized Thompson’s talent and subsequently published “Poems” which included “The Hound of Heaven.” (answers.com)

Religious in overtone, Thompson’s poetry received some criticism for verbosity and lack of originality in thought. (answers.com) However, for those interested in the derivation of sayings and titles, the U.S. Supreme Court allegedly took its “with all deliberate speed” (Brown v. Board of Education II, remedy) from a stanza in this poem: “Nigh and nigh draws the chase, With unperturbed pace, Deliberate speed, majestic instancy…” (Wikipedia) And a phrase from another poem “The Kingdom of God,” allegedly provided the title for Han Suyin’s novel and subsequent movie “Love is a Many Splendored Thing.” (Wikipedia) While neither rare nor particularly expensive, publications such as the above pamphlet often provide interesting tidbits with which to bore your friends. I leave you with a few more words from Thompson:

“Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me.”

(last three lines from “The Hound of Heaven,” by Francis Thompson)

Western Wilds by J. H. Beadle

Pictured (photo) is the gilt-stamped elaborately decorated pictorial cover of the 624 page edition of “Western Wilds and the Men Who Redeem Them,” by J. H. Beadle a western correspondent. Published in 1878 (copyright 1877) by Jones Brothers & Company, the book recounts “seven years of travel and adventure in the far west; wild life in Arizona; perils of the plains; life in the canon and death on the desert; thrilling scenes and romantic incidents in the lives of western pioneers; adventures among the red and white savages of the west; a full account of the mountain meadow massacre; the Custer defeat; life and death of Brigham Young, etc.”

Illustrated throughout with wood engravings, the undoubted highlight of the book is a double page folding lithographed map (photo, below) titled “Aboriginal America.” It shows the location of major Indian tribes from east to west coast. Beadle was born in 1840 and died in 1897. He wrote for one and maybe more eastern publications and authored several books in addition to Western Wilds. Not much information is available online about the author; however, he spawned controversy over his articles and books that attacked Brigham Young and Mormonism in Utah. The author’s Preface addresses this criticism but states that the object of the book was “truth.”

Western Wilds includes a fascinating section on Custer, with detailed information about Custer’s background, and the massacre at Little Big Horn. While some of the author’s facts may still be in dispute, Beadle’s writing style is fluid and extremely entertaining. The last sentence in Beadle’s Preface reads: “As to the interest in the narrative—kind reader, excuse me; I touch your hand, and without further apology introduce you to My Book.” Who could resist?