Tapioca Pudding with Pineapple and Coconut

Ingredients

For the Tapioca

65gr / 2.3 oz. of pearl tapioca (the smaller pearls)

250ml / 8.5 fl oz. full milk

1 x vanilla pod

200ml / 6.8 fl oz. coconut milk

A pinch of salt

2 x large egg yolks

1 x heaped tbsp sugar

For the Pineapple

250gr / 8.8 oz. of diced pineapple

2 x tsp honey (or to taste)

Juice and zest of one lime

Preparation

1.The place to start is with the tapioca, the pudding is a custard. So, in a heavy bottomed saucepan add the full milk, salt, tapioca the seeds from the vanilla pod and the empty vanilla pod. Bring this mix to a gentle simmer and stir occasionally. Do this until the tapioca is translucent and tender, this takes about 20 minutes. When cooked, stir in the coconut milk.

2.While the tapioca mix is cooking you can whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl - quite big as it has to hold half of your tapioca mix too. Mix the egg and sugar together until the colour lightens.

3.Taking your cooked tapioca mix from the heat, pour half of it into the bowl with the eggs and sugar, whisk together using a metal hand whisk. Then pour this back into the pan and place on a medium heat.

4.On a medium heat keep whisking until the mix thickens, this takes about 5 minutes or so. It is important not to use too high a heat as the eggs will scramble. The mix will not become really thick, the chilling process with thicken it further. I like to check the sweetness level at this stage, you can add a little more sugar if you wish, but if you do, stir it through until it dissolves. Put your tapioca pudding in a clean, cool bowl, remove the vanilla bean and set aside to cool. When it has cooled, cover with cling film and put in the fridge.

5.Now for the pineapple. Combine the fruit with the honey, lime juice and most of the zest. Keep back a little lime zest to dress.

6.Place half of the mix in a food processor and whizz up until smooth. Transfer this back into the bowl with the rest of the pineapple and stir together – check the flavour and add more honey or lime if you wish.

7.Once your tapioca has chilled, place some of the pineapple mix in the bottom of your serving dishes, then add the tapioca and top with a little pineapple and some lime zest to finish.