Tapioca Pearls Pudding

So I never had tapioca pearls before, but it always interested me....The texture is still strange for me, but some parts of the world have this dessert for ages. I tried it hot and cold as well, strangely I prefer its hot, but my husband loves it cold. I also experimented with the taste, added pandan essence to one half and coconut to the other.

Tapioca Pearls Pudding

Ingredients

100g tapioca pearls

500ml pineapple and coconut juice

1 tinned coconut milk

half a mango

1tsp pandan essence/Pandanus essence

20g white chocolate

50g creamed coconut

"Pandanus or Pandan essence is and extract made from the leaves of the Pandan (Screwpine) plant. The essence is used in South Asian cooking, primarily for desserts, it is also a naturally green, therefore it is also used to add colour to foods."

Put the tapioca pearls into a bowl and add the fruit juice. Leave it to soak overnight. 

Next day put the tapioca with the fruit juice into a heavy based pan and heat it under a medium heat stirring constantly. As soon as it starts to boil it will thicken, add the coconut milk. Keep stirring until the white pearls become colourless and you have a sticky, jellylike paste (If you find that the pearls still hard, add some fruit juice and keep cooking).

Divide the tapioca pudding into two. To one part add the grated white chocolate and the grated creamed coconut and mix together. To the other part add the pandan essence and mix in until evenly blended.

Until it cools slice up the mango. I cut some slices and chopped the rest of the mango. Put a spoonful of chopped mango to the bottom of the glasses. 

Add one of the tapioca pudding and decorate with the sliced mango.

Amaretto and Raspberry Magic

I forgot we about to host a dinner party for our friends. I checked for a recipe that I can make quickly and I send my husband to buy the ingredients for it. He returned with half of them....claiming he forgot it. Well he did buy raspberries instead of strawberries, so I had some fruit and the rest was down to my cupboard. I can't complain as I have a fairly well equipped one, therefore I created:

Amaretto and Raspberry Magic

Ingredients

400g raspberries

250ml double cream

50g creamed coconut, chilled

40g ground almond

15 amaretti biscuit

80g cream cheese

6 tbsp Amaretto liqueur

50g flaked almonds

In one bowl whip the double cream until it holds its shape. Grate in the chilled creamed coconut, then add the ground almond and the Amaretto liqueur and mix it together.

In a separate bowl mix together with an electric mixer 2/3 of the raspberries with the cream cheese.

All left to do is assemble it. Fill the Amaretto cream into a piping bag and start layering the glasses. 

My layers were starting from the bottom: 

Amaretto cream, 

raspberry purée, 

1.5crushed amaretti biscuit(in each glass), 

Amaretto cream, 

some fresh raspberries, 

flaked almonds, raspberry purée, 

Amaretto cream

finished off with 1amaretti biscuit each some flaked almonds and the rest of the raspberries.

Chill it for at least 30 minutes then serve:)

Lemon Magic

This is a really quick and refreshing dessert almost allays served at warm summer days when you need something light and not too sweet.

For 6 individual portions:
5dl soured cream 
3 lemons
2 tbs icing sugar
1 vanilla
10-15 pieces of lady fingers
3dl double cream

In one bowl mix the soured cream with the icing sugar and 2.5 lemon zest and its juice.
In the other bowl whip the double cream until stiff peaks then mix the contents of the two bowls.
Layer the cream and the lady fingers and put it into the fridge for at least 24 hours. 
Serve chilled with the sliced, half lemon for decoration.

Hints and tips
-if you don't have time for the 24 hours chilling, dip the lady fingers into some milk just before layering. It really should be a quick dip for 4-5 second to start the softening process. If you leave the lady finger in the milk for too long, it will fell apart and it will release milk later on when your desserts already assembled....and you don't want that.
If you use the "milking" method, 3-4 hours resting in the refrigerator will be sufficient.
-As usual please taste the cream, as somebody like sour desserts more than others, if this is the case add another lemon to the cream...
  

Mango shots

While experimenting with more exotic fruits and tastes, I created these little beauties. I bought 6 1dl glasses for £2.99 in TK Max and tested them straight after arriving home.

Mango shots

Ingredients for 6 1ld glasses:

1 Mango
0.5-1dl Passoá (passion fruit liqueur)
250 ml double cream
4 tbs icing sugar 
1 tbs Amaretto (Almond liqueur)
1 dl coconut milk
1 tbs dream topping


Quite easy to prepare,  will take about 20 minutes with cleaning:)
Peel the mango. 3/4 of the mango needs to be puréed(use food processor or hand blender), the other 1/4 will be the decoration on the top. For the decoration cut the mango into little squares.

Add the Passoá liqueur to the purée, depending on your taste adjust the amount. When the dessert will be cold you won't feel that much the alcohol so set it as just over the kick when it is room temperature. 

Whip the double cream until stiff peaks with the dream topping, then add the coconut milk, Amaretto liqueur and the icing sugar and mix it again. As usual, I would suggest to taste it. Somebody likes it really sweet, somebody likes it not so sweet so adjust the sugar if you need to.

Put the cream into a piping bag (avoid to make mess with the spoon on the side of the glasses when you try to fill it, believe me, I tried it and it didn't work.....use a piping bag)
Start layering the cream and mango purée. Start and finish with a cream layer. Put the chopped mango squares on top and chill  for at least 30minutes or more.