Rum and Raisin Baked Tapioca Pudding

By MooK

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of raisins
• 1/3 cup of dark rum
• 120 grams (approx a little over 3/4 cup) of sago/tapioca pearl
• 2 2/3 cup of whole milk
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 1/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 6 tbsp of all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp of apricot jam
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp of ground turmeric for color, optional
• 2 tbsp of unsalted butter

Preparation

Step 1

Soak the tapioca pearl in cold water (at least twice the volume of the pearls) for 1 hour. The pearls should have obviously expanded and plumped up after soaking. Drain the pearls very very thoroughly, making sure that there’s no excess water that keeps dripping down the sieve. Set aside on top of a clean kitchen towel. Bring the whole milk in a large pot over medium heat to a simmer and stir occasionally to prevent scolding.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven on 400ºF/200ºC. Add raisins and dark rum in a bowl. Cover the bowl with a plate and microwave on high for 1:30 min. Give it a little stir and set aside. In another bowl, add large egg, egg yolks, granulated sugar, custard powder, corn starch and vanilla extract. Whisk until the mixture is smoothly combined.

Once the milk starts to simmer, add the drained tapioca pearls. Stir and keep on medium heat just until the milks comes back to a simmer and that the pearls are cooked to transparent, approx 2 min. Turn off the heat and SLOWLY SLOWLY add the milk/tapioca pearl mixture into the large bowl with egg and sugar, stirring vigorously to prevent the eggs from curdling. Once the mixture is smoothly combined, add it back into the pot and return it to the stove over LOW heat. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture has thicken up and coats the back of the wooden spoon. Turn off the heat and stir in the unsalted butter, all the rum and raisins but reserve 1 tbsp of raisins on the side for topping. Stir until the butter has completely melted.

Divide the pearl pudding into 4 ~ 5 ramekins depending on size, and the reserved raisins on top (press it slightly into the pudding). Bake on a sheet pan inside the oven for 25 ~ 30 min until the top is slightly browned and caramelized. The pudding may expand in size during baking, but will deflate once cooled down. Serve while it’s warm and don’t burn your tongue.