Tapioca Pudding

- one batch makes about 4½ cups -

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Ingredients:

bullet ½ cup (3½ oz / 100 gr) pearl tapioca (large pearls preferred)
bullet ¼ teaspoon salt
bullet 2 eggs – separated
bullet 2½ cups milk
bullet ½ cup sugar (115 gr)
bullet ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Note: you'll need a pot that hold at least 6 cups of liquid.

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Instructions:

bullet Soak tapioca overnight in 2 cups of room temperature water.
bullet Drain.
bullet In double boiler, heat milk just until no longer cold.
bullet I improvise a double boiler with a regular pot that I put in a large frying pan, with a small trivet between the pot and the pan.
bullet Add salt, tapioca, and the vanilla.
bullet Continue heating until small bubbles appear at sides of the pan.
bullet Cover, turn heat very low and cook for one hour.
bullet Make sure that the mixture does not simmer or boil!
bullet Keep an eye on the water level!
bullet Beat egg yolks and sugar together until light yellow in color (this takes less than 1 minute)
bullet Add small amount of the hot mixture to the 2 egg yolks, and quickly blend thoroughly.
bullet Add the egg yolk mixture to the hot milk mixture, stirring quickly and constantly (we are not making an omelet!)
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Place the double boiler over medium heat (no need to use the double boiler)and cook until the tapioca mixture is thick (about 15 minutes).
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Stir constantly!
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The mixture will get a little fluffy and expand noticeably
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After a couple of minutes of heating and stirring, it will go down in volume again. Continue a couple of minutes more, and you're done - take the pot off the heat.

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Beat egg whites until stiff (may use ¼ teaspoon of Cream of Tartar).
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if you do not like "fluffy" desserts, then do not use the egg whites

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Slowly fold the hot tapioca mixture into the egg whites, until completely blended in.
bullet Serve warm or chilled.

Tapioca is a flavorless starch, made from treated and dried cassava (manioc) root,usually in the form of beads or pearls  The word is derived from the Tupi language of Brazil (from tipi'óka), and refers to the process by which cassava (Manihot esculenta) is made edible.

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based on recipe from Reese (supplier of large pearl tapioca)