Homemade Tapioca Pudding

Tapioca pudding is one of those things that is NORMALLY gluten-free. Unfortunately, 2020 seems to have attacked minute tapioca along with toilet paper. There is NONE to be found. I have checked ALL of the stores, and online, and all of the places… There just is not any minute tapioca. So what is a mom of eight kids who all love tapioca pudding to do? 

Fortunately, there are still tapioca pearls available. Unfortunately, I have never actually made tapioca pudding with anything but Kraft minute tapioca. So I’ve had a little bit of a learning curve. The bag of small tapioca pearls I bought at a local Asian Foods market had no cooking instructions, so I had to search the internet for vague instructions. The first recipe I followed was not a success. It had me soak the tapioca in hot water for half an hour, but the proportions were not right and my soaked tapioca pearls formed a solid sheet across the bottom of my pan that took FOREVER to break up into smaller pieces again. The cooking process (post-soaking) also seemed to take forever. It was probably really only a few minutes more than the “minute” version, but it SEEMED longer because I had to take the pudding off the heat and temper the eggs before adding them back in ... lazy, I know, but it just felt like a lot of effort. And then, once the pudding was finished, my children objected to the flavor (“It just tastes like regular vanilla pudding!”) and the amount of tapioca pearls (“There’s so much tapioca...it’s stiff!”). 

So today I went back to the drawing board. I kept the pre-soaking step, but increased the water. Then I looked up the instructions for Krafts’ minute tapioca and based my recipe on their instructions. The recipe was simpler and faster, and my children agree the resultant pudding is “Much Better!” So, no matter what else 2020 takes from you, don’t let it take your tapioca pudding! 

 

Tapioca Pudding with Small Pearl Tapioca

1/3 c. small pearl tapioca

2/3 c. hot water

5 1/2 c. whole milk

2/3 c. sugar

Two eggs, beaten

Dash salt

1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla

In a large sauce pan, combine small pearl tapioca and hot water. Swirl around a bit to allow the tapioca to spread evenly across the bottom of the pan. Let sit for half an hour. After half an hour has passed, gently stir the tapioca to make sure it has not formed any large clumps. There will still be a little bit of water in the bottom of the pan. Do not remove the excess water. 

Add milk, sugar, salt, and beaten egg to the tapioca. Whisk well. Let sit for five minutes.

Heat the pudding mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a full rolling boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Allow pudding to sit and cool for 20 minutes. Pudding will continue to thicken as it cools. (If desired, cover the pudding with plastic wrap to prevent it from forming a skin. I usually just give it a quick stir every few minutes instead.) 

If, for some reason, your pudding is not thickening after it has been cooling for ten minutes, return it to medium heat and bring it back to a boil, then allow it to cool. This should fix it. 

Serve warm or cold. Makes about ten 1/2 c servings. (If you want to cut the recipe in half, use 3 Tbs. tapioca pearls and 6 Tbs. hot water.)