Coconut Tapioca Pudding with Roasted Strawberries and Mangos

I have been thinking lately about the reasons for blogging. What moves so many to have a food blog or about any other subject. But food is our common ground here.

There´s a TV ad going on here about Internet Day. I laugh so hard every single time I see it, which is a few a day. If you know spanish you can watch it here. It is about a young guy who works in a boring office, and instead of doing the work he´s supposed to (graphic charts, budgets) he spends his time doing funny, crazy, dumb things to post so that all his other office mates and everyone around the world can have a good laugh and brighten their day. So, on May 17, all his colleagues do his office work for him so he can go on doing stupid videos for everyone to see online.

The reasons why someone decides to start a blog are endless and personal. I opened a post about a year and a half ago, that really got to my heart, and I thought then how good it would be to be able to participate. And eventually I did, three months ago. It is opening doors to so many things in such a short time that I don´t really know where it may take me personally. I know that I´m making friends (even if they are virtual ones) and sharing recipes and stories that someone, somewhere around the world, might find helpful or interesting or even dumb and laugh.

For me it´s about sharing my vision of food and how it shapes me, not in an altruistic way, though that´s part of the package sometimes. I do care to be acknowledged by having comments and visitors. But when I start thinking about a new post, and that´s really a never ending, everyday thing I´m a bit embarrassed to admit, it´s about sharing something new, by way of my heritage, or an old cookbook or whatever I think is different or new. A way to add to the food world of whoever might be reading on the other side of the screen.

My list of to-do recipes is huge. My list of food blogs I like grows permanently. Everyday life is about jobs, friends, family, hobbies and also about food. So let´s say I would need a few more hours in a day to tackle all of that. Which brings me to the idea behind this post.

Inspiration from other food blogs. There are so many I would like to visit everyday, leave a comment and read extensively… but that´s hard. I read about many twists on recipes, funny stories, thoughtful insights, new flavors and they trigger ideas and feelings of my own.

So I want to write about that. A recipe inspired by another recipe, or sentence or comment on another food blog. Something that´s mine, usually from the list of recipes I want to try, and that I can share but was triggered by a fellow blogger. Of course, due credit is fundamental. And that´s the root of this story. Because I´m so grateful for everything that´s happening with my blog and so excited where it´s taking me.

Well, enough of that. Let´s do some cooking.

I had strawberries not very happy to be in my fridge anymore. I debated between a tart or a cheesecake. I also wanted to do this tapioca pudding.

While I thought it was my first encounter with tapioca, my mother told me she used to make it a lot when we were small kids. It is baby food. But with the roasted fruits on top it takes on a grown-up spin, fancy enough to serve at a dinner party.
I roast vegetables and bananas like it´s going out of style but never thought of strawberries until I read these two posts. Now, I´m scared to add yet another food obsession to my list.

COCONUT TAPIOCA PUDDING

from Room for Dessert, by David Lebovitz

Note: I bought small pearl tapioca like the recipe specified but it was very irregular, so it didn´t cook at the same time and some remained gummy after the milk had been used up. Next time I will buy evenly sized pearls even if they´re large, like caviar.

For the roasted fruit I used part of the sugar in the pudding recipe.

3 ½ cups coconut milk

1 ¾ cups milk

1 cup sugar

1 cup pearl tapioca

Pinch of salt

½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste

1 egg, separated

In a medium-size heavy-bottomed saucepan (preferably nonstick) stir together coconut milk, milk, sugar, tapioca and salt.

Cook over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring constantly with a heatproof flat-edged utensil to prevent the pudding from scorching on the bottom as it thickens, until the pearls are completely cooked through and translucent. Remove from the heat. Add vanilla paste.

Vigorously whisk the egg yolk into the pudding. Cool for about 10 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean.

Whip the egg white until it forms a soft peak and fold it into the warm pudding. Refrigerate until ready to serve or, covered, up to 3 days.

Serve with roasted fruit.

Serve 8

Roasted Strawberries and Mangos: 

Preheat oven to 350º F/180ºC

On a baking sheet put 1 pound (450g) fresh, hulled strawberries and 1 mango, peeled and cut into chunks. Add about ¼ cup light brown sugar, mix lightly and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until they start to soften and release their juice.