Tapioca Pearls Breakfast Recipe

As a kid, I turned my nose up at the mere mention of tapioca pudding, despite the fact that I had never even come close to trying the stuff. I'm sure I'm not alone here. But for Marvin Gapultos, a warm Filipino tapioca porridge called

Remains a favorite dessert. And why not? The tapioca pearls glimmer in a rich coconut milk broth, studded with fat, chewy rice balls and small pieces of sweet fruit. His version in The Adobo Road Cookbook is easy and fun to make (rice balls dough = tasty playdough), and his use of mango as a topping guarantees sweet success.

Why I picked this recipe: Somehow I've managed to go my entire life without eating tapioca-based pudding (or porridge). With this super-comforting recipe at hand, I figured now was as good a time as any to give it a shot.

Coconut Tapioca With Pineapple, Mango, And Lime Recipe

What worked: Pleasantly chewy tapioca and creamy coconut milk with a generous scoop of sweet mango on top made for a deliciously homey dessert.

What didn't: I ended up cutting the porridge with some extra water before serving. It thickened up quite a bit, and I thought adding more coconut milk (and opening another can) would send the dish over the edge in terms of richness.

Suggested tweaks: Gapultos explains that he's eaten this porridge with any number of fruits and vegetables stirred in—sweet potatoes, bananas, and jackfruit, to name but a few. Consider this license to top the porridge at will. Strawberries would be great this time of year!

Blueberry Lemon Tapioca Pudding Recipe

Excerpted with permission from The Adobo Road Cookbook: A Filipino Food Journey--From Food Blog, to Food Truck, and Beyond, copyright 2013 by Marvin Gapultos. Published by Tuttle Publishing, a division of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd. All rights reserved. Available wherever books are sold.

*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2, 000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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Ginataang Bilo Bilo: Filipino Coconut Tapioca Pudding

Now ever since having gone paleo, warm oatmeal had gone out of my life too! I missed it a lot! Especially now in this cold, cold new england winter weather, I really started craving for something warm that I could slurp lazily in the mornings. And thus in desperation I created this recipe which I honestly didn’t need to try very hard.! Since I used to make tapioca coconut pudding regularly, this recipe was only a slight extension of that one where I decided to add tiger nut flour additionally.  I was so glad I did. Addition of tiger nut flour tastes the texture of the pudding considerably. Before where it used to be a huge lumpy mass, now we have a coarse, gritty and more ‘porridge like’ texture! Plus the tiger nut flavor imparts it a delicious nutty flavor!

You may have the question ‘What is a tigernut?’. Well, it isn’t a nut, as the name implies. It is a small root vegetable that grows in Northern Africa and the Mediterranean. Tigernut flour is naturally gluten free and Paleo. And it offers those allergic to nuts an option for adding protein when baking and cooking. High in fiber, iron, potassium, protein, magnesium, zinc and vitamins E and C, tiger nuts were the primary food of our ancient ancestors who lived in East Africa between 2.4 million and 1.4 million years ago, according to a 2014 Oxford University study. One ounce of these crunchy root vegetables contains 40 percent of the recommended daily fiber intake1.

Ok enough jibber-jabber, here’s the recipe 🙂 Sharing this recipe at the Paleo AIP recipe Roundtable this week hosted by Phoenix Helix. 

Homemade Tapioca Pudding Recipe

After soaking the tapioca pearls should measure to almost 1 cup since they bloom/swell on soaking. For toppings, you can use fresh or frozen berries or any other fruits!

Now ever since having gone paleo, warm oatmeal had gone out of my life too! I missed it a lot! Especially now in this cold, cold new england winter weather, I really started craving for something warm that I could slurp lazily in the mornings. And thus in desperation I created this recipe which I honestly didn’t need to try very hard.! Since I used to make tapioca coconut pudding regularly, this recipe was only a slight extension of that one where I decided to add tiger nut flour additionally.  I was so glad I did. Addition of tiger nut flour tastes the texture of the pudding considerably. Before where it used to be a huge lumpy mass, now we have a coarse, gritty and more ‘porridge like’ texture! Plus the tiger nut flavor imparts it a delicious nutty flavor!

You may have the question ‘What is a tigernut?’. Well, it isn’t a nut, as the name implies. It is a small root vegetable that grows in Northern Africa and the Mediterranean. Tigernut flour is naturally gluten free and Paleo. And it offers those allergic to nuts an option for adding protein when baking and cooking. High in fiber, iron, potassium, protein, magnesium, zinc and vitamins E and C, tiger nuts were the primary food of our ancient ancestors who lived in East Africa between 2.4 million and 1.4 million years ago, according to a 2014 Oxford University study. One ounce of these crunchy root vegetables contains 40 percent of the recommended daily fiber intake1.

Ok enough jibber-jabber, here’s the recipe 🙂 Sharing this recipe at the Paleo AIP recipe Roundtable this week hosted by Phoenix Helix. 

Homemade Tapioca Pudding Recipe

After soaking the tapioca pearls should measure to almost 1 cup since they bloom/swell on soaking. For toppings, you can use fresh or frozen berries or any other fruits!