Honestly I have been trying to write this post for several days now but I just couldn’t. Like so many others I have been caught up in the events of the past week. With so many suffering in Boston and Texas I just wasn’t in the mood to talk about a recipe I love. At least Boston can now begin the road to recovery but poor West, Texas, still so many unaccounted for, it’s tragic.
I will say I am having trouble reconciling with the fact that we (the United States) gave these terror people asylum in this country, we gave them citizenship and now our doctors work to save one of their lives and look what they gave us; fear, death and destruction to a country that welcomed them with open arms. What a different way of thinking an ideology we will never understand. It’s unreal.
Okay enough of that, the only way to drive out darkness is light. So let’s lighten this up.
It’s Spring, but you really wouldn’t know it where I live. The rain has been relentless. But strawberries are in season and the stores are filled with rows and rows of these beauties.
Have you ever paired strawberry and basil together? It’s a magical combination. Couple that with a vanilla infused coconut pudding and you’ll swear you’ve been transported to an island somewhere.
This is a lovely way to end dinner or a brunch, it’s pretty too!
Coconut Milk Tapioca Pudding with Strawberries and Basil
Ingredients
- 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and seeds scraped
- 2-3/4 cups coconut milk plus whole milk (see instructions for explanation)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3 Tablespoons Minute Tapioca
- 1 large egg, well beaten
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 cups diced strawberries
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 Tablespoons finely chopped basil
Directions
- Scrape vanilla bean seeds into a large sauce pan, add scraped bean pod too. In a large measuring cup that measures at least three cups, pour one can of coconut milk (which will give you about 1-3/4 cups) into the measuring cup. Add whole milk until measuring cup is filled to the 2-3/4 cup mark. (You can use all coconut milk but you will need more than one regular sized can.) Scald milk over low heat, just until steaming. Remove from heat and set aside for one hour. Strain and pour liquid back into saucepan.
- Combine sugar, tapioca and egg with coconut milk mixture in the saucepan. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until it comes to a full boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool to room temperature.
- Combine strawberries, sugar and basil. Add half the mixture to a food processor and puree until smooth. Stir the puree back into the diced strawberries.
- Divide half of the fruit into the bottom of four glasses. Top each glass with tapioca pudding then top with remaining fruit. Refrigerate for four hours and serve.
So much to love here, I hope you can experience it soon.
Four Years Ago: Individual Grape and Vin Santo Cakes
