Coconut sago is a soup dessert popular within Hong Kong cultural background. The concept of a soup dessert might be alien to many, but there is so many in Cantonese cuisine and the coconut sago is easily one of my favourites as a child. The dish is also popular in Myanmar and Thailand, where some say it originated.
Not heard of sago? It’s basically a starch that’s harvested from the pith of palm stems. You can alternatively use tapioca pearls instead of sago. These are made from cassava starch instead of palm starch. You can buy packets of these in Asian supermarkets. They appear as small white balls which soften and become clear when cooked through. Once cooked, the texture is smooth and chewy, also known as QQ in East and South East Asia. The terminology QQ has origins in Taiwan where the letter “Q” sounds like the word for chewy. It is perfect for describing something that is al-dente.
Coconut sago / tapioca Dessert
Ingredients
90 g sago / tapioca pearls
400 ml coconut milk (1 can)
500 ml water
150 g granulated sugar
1 small parsnip, sweet potato, ube or taro, 1cm cubes cooked (optional)
Instructions
Put sago in a pot of boiling water, lid off for 10 minutes
Turn off the heat and let it rest for 15 minutes. The sago will become transparent.
Drain the sago and cool with cold water. Drain and repeat with cold water again, then drain and set aside.
Peel and cut the purple sweet potato, sweet potato, potato or taro into small pieces. Steam half the sweet potato for 10 minutes or fully cooked. Then use fork to mash it to puree.
Bring 500ml water to boil, add in the rest of the purple sweet potato, sweet potato, potato or taro. Cook for 10-15 minutes until softened.
In another pot, add the coconut milk and sugar. Bring to a boil. Add the sago back to the pot and stir. Add cooked root veg.
Eat hot or cool and put it into the fridge and consume when cold.
Notes
If using the optional root veg, you can cook the cubed veg at the same time as step 4. Make sure your veg is cooked before adding the sago back in for step 5.
