Tapioca Pudding

Tapioca is the starch extracted from the roots of the cassava plant, also called yuca. Cassava is native to Brazil however has unfold all through the world. Tapioca can be utilized in its starch type, very similar to cornstarch, to thicken sauces and create a coating on proteins like tofu, shrimp, and hen earlier than frying. Tapioca can also be discovered as spherical pearls of various sizes, together with the bigger pearls also called boba in East Asia. For this recipe, skip immediate tapioca and go for small pearl tapioca, which develops the right creamy texture for this luscious, basic pudding.

What’s the distinction between vanilla bean paste and vanilla extract?

Vanilla bean paste and vanilla extract are each merchandise constructed from vanilla beans that impart vanilla taste, however they differ in consistency, look, and taste depth. Vanilla bean paste is a thick, concentrated product with seen vanilla bean flecks, whereas vanilla extract is a liquid. They’re interchangeable in a recipe, although should you use extract, you’ll miss the visible vanilla bean dots. 

Notes from the Meals & Wine Check Kitchen

Search for raw small tapioca pearls within the baking aisle of your grocery retailer. You may as well discover them in Southeast Asian markets. We like Bob’s Pink Mill Small Pearl Tapioca, which is the right measurement for do-it-yourself tapioca pudding.

Make forward

It is a nice make-ahead dessert, as it is best when it sits for a number of hours. Press a sheet of plastic wrap instantly onto the floor of the pudding to stop a pores and skin from forming and refrigerate for as much as 5 days. 

The pudding may also be frozen in particular person, freezer-safe containers for as much as three months. Defrost in a single day within the fridge earlier than serving.

This recipe was developed by Julia Levy; the textual content was written by Breana Killeen.