DESSERTS WITH TAPIOCA, SAGO, MONICA, AND SEA MOSS.
Both pearl and flake tapioca are suitable for these desserts. They should be soaked for some hours before using, and it is always best to soak over night if convenient. The flake tapioca requires longer soaking and cooking than the pearl tapioca. For soaking, use one and a half cups of water for each cup of flake tapioca, and one pint of water for a cup of pearl tapioca. For cooking, three or four additional cups of water will be required for each cup of tapioca, depending upon, the articles used with it. A double boiler should be used for the cooking.
RECIPES.
Apple Tapioca.—Soak a cupful of pearl tapioca over night. In the morning simmer in a quart of boiling water until transparent and thickened. Arrange in the bottom of a pudding dish four or five good-sized tart apples, which have been pared, cored, and the cavities filled with sugar. Squeeze the juice of a lemon and grate a very little of the rind over the apples. Pour the tapioca over the fruit. Set the dish inside a pan filled with hot water, cover, and bake one hour, or until the apples are done. Serve with sugar and cream. It is best nearly cold. Fresh peaches, pared and stewed, may be used in place of apples, if preferred.
Apple Tapioca No. 2.—Soak a half cup of tapioca in a cap of tepid water, for at least three hours. Pare, core, and quarter nice tart apples to fill a two-quart pudding dish nearly half full. Add four cups of water and one of sugar to the soaked tapioca, pour it over the apples, and bake two or three hours in a slow oven. Serve with whipped cream.
Banana Dessert.—Soak a cup of tapioca over night. In the morning cook in a double boiler in a quart of water until transparent. When done, add a cup of sugar and three or four sliced bananas. Serve cold with cream.
Blackberry Tapioca.—Soak a cup of tapioca over night. When ready to cook, add three cups of boiling water and cook in a double boiler until transparent and smooth. Sprinkle a quart of fresh blackberries with sugar, and stir lightly into the tapioca. Pour into molds and serve cold with cream and sugar. Other fresh berries may be used in the same way.
Cherry Pudding.—Soak and cook a half cup of tapioca in a pint of water until transparent. Have a pint of fresh pitted cherries in an earthen pudding dish. Sprinkle them well with sugar, pour over them the cooked tapioca, and bake for an hour in a moderate oven. Serve hot with or without cream.
Fruit Tapioca.—Cook three fourths of a cup of tapioca in four cups of water until smooth and transparent Stir into it lightly a pint of fresh strawberries, raspberries, currants, or any small fruit, adding sugar as required. For variety a cup of canned quinces or apricots may be substituted for fresh fruit. Serve warm or cold with whipped cream or mock cream.
Molded Tapioca with Fruit.—Simmer one half cup of desiccated cocoanut in a pint of milk for twenty minutes. Strain out the cocoanut, and add milk to make a full pint. Add one half cup of sugar and one half cup of tapioca previously soaked over night. Let the whole simmer until the tapioca is transparent. Dip some cups in cold water, drain, and lay fresh strawberries, currants, or cherries in the bottom of each in the form of a star or cross. Pour the tapioca into the molds gently, so as not to displace the fruit. When cold, turn out and serve with whipped cream or fruit sauce. Raisins may be substituted for fresh fruit, or bits of jelly may be placed around the mold after it has cooled, if preferred.
Pineapple Tapioca.—Soak one cup of tapioca over night in one and one half cups of water. Add two and one half cups of water and cook in a double boiler until transparent, then add one cup of sugar and one juicy pineapple minced fine with a sharp knife. Mold, and serve cold with or without cream.
Prune and Tapioca Pudding.—Soak one half cup of tapioca over night. In the morning cook until transparent in two cups of water. Stew two cups of well-washed and stoned prunes in a quart of water till perfectly tender; then add the juice of a good lemon and two tablespoonfuls of sugar, and boil till the syrup becomes thick and rich. Turn the prunes into a pudding dish, cover with the cooked tapioca, and add a little grated lemon rind. Bake lightly. Serve without dressing or with sugar and cream or almond sauce. If preferred, the prunes and tapioca may be placed in the dish in alternate layers, having the top one of tapioca.
Tapioca and Fig Pudding.—Cook three fourths of a cup of tapioca as for Apple Tapioca. Have ready two cups of finely sliced or chopped tart apples, and one cup of chopped figs, which have first been lightly steamed. If preferred, raisins may be used in place of half the figs. Put the fruit in the bottom of the pudding dish, turn the tapioca over it, and bake till the fruit is very soft. If the apples are not very tart, sprinkle the juice of a lemon over them before adding the figs and tapioca.
A nice fruit pudding can also be made by using half canned pears and half apples, or canned quinces may be substituted for figs.
Peach Tapioca.—For this will be needed a quart of nicely canned peaches, a cup of tapioca, and from one half to three fourths of a cup of sugar, according to the sweetness of the peaches. Soak the tapioca over night in just enough water to cover. When ready to cook, put in a double boiler with three cups of water, and cook for an hour. Remove from the fire and add to it the juice from the peaches, of which there should be a cup and a half, which has been secured by draining the peaches in a colander, and stir it well into the tapioca. Place a layer of this mixture in an oiled pudding dish, add the peaches, cover with the remainder of the tapioca, and bake for an hour in a moderate oven.
Tapioca Jelly.—Soak a cup of tapioca in a pint of water over night. Add another pint and cook until transparent and smooth. Add three tablespoonfuls of lemon juice and four tablespoonfuls of sugar; beat well together and tun into molds. Serve cold. No dressing is required. This may be varied by using unsweetened currant, grape, or other acid fruit juice in place of lemon. Fruit jelly may be used if the juice is not easily obtained. Add when the tapioca is well cooked, and stir until dissolved.
Apple Sago Pudding.—Soak one cup of sago in six cups of water; stew ten small apples, mix with the sago, and bake three quarters of an hour. Serve with cream and sugar. It is better warm than cold, but acceptable either way.
Red Sago Mold.—Take a quart of red raspberry juice, pure or diluted with one third water, and sweeten to taste. Have ready one half cup of best sago which has soaked for twenty minutes in just enough water to cover. Drain off any water that may remain. Add the sago to the juice, and cook until the sago is transparent, then turn into molds. Serve cold with cream. Cranberry or strawberry juice may be used in place of the raspberry, if preferred.
Sago Fruit Pudding.—Soak a small cup of sago an hour in just enough water to cover. Drain off any water that may not be absorbed. Mix two thirds of a cup of sugar with this sago, and stir all into a quart of boiling water. Let it boil until the sago is perfectly transparent and pour in a pint of nicely hulled strawberries. Turn into molds to cool, or serve warm with cream, as preferred. Tapioca can be used instead of sago, but needs longer soaking. Raspberries, stoned cherries, or currants can be used in place of strawberries.
Sago Pudding.—Soak a cupful of sago for twenty minutes in a cup of cold water; then pour over it a quart and a cup of boiling water, add a cup of sugar and one half cup of raisins. Cook till the sago is perfectly transparent, flavor with vanilla, and set away to cool. Serve with whipped cream.
Manioca with Fruit.—Pare, core, and quarter six medium-sized tart apples, and put them to cook in a quart of boiling water. Add a cup of sugar, and cook without stirring until softened, then sprinkle into the water in which they are cooking five tablespoonfuls of manioca, and cook until it is transparent, which will be in about ten minutes. Flavor with a little grated lemon rind, and serve hot with sugar and cream, or mold, as preferred. Canned peaches, apricots, or cherries may be used in a similar manner, adding boiling water if there is not sufficient juice to properly cook the manioca. Or the manioca may be first cooked in boiling water, using four scant tablespoonfuls for a pint of water, and when transparent, turning it over sliced bananas, pineapples, or oranges, molding and serving with cream and sugar.
Raspberry Manioca Mold.—Heat a pint of water, and when boiling, sprinkle into it four scant tablespoonfuls of manioca and cook for ten minutes or until transparent, stirring continually. When transparent and thickened, remove from the fire and add a tablespoonful of lemon juice and one cup of sugar. Place a layer of the cooked manioca in the bottom of a pudding dish, add a layer of freshly picked red raspberries, then another of the manioca, filling the dish in alternate layers with one of manioca for the top. Set away in some cool place until well molded. Serve in slices with cream flavored with rose. Other fresh berries may be used instead of raspberries.
Sea Moss Blancmange.—Wash the moss well in several waters, and soak in a very little cold water for an hour before using. It is hardly possible to give exact directions for making this blancmange, owing to the difficulty of accurately measuring the moss, but in general, a small handful will be ample for a quart of milk. Add the moss, when washed, to the milk, and cook in a double boiler until the milk has become thickened and glutinous. Add sugar to sweeten, flavor with vanilla or rose water, and strain through a fine sieve into cups previously wet in cold water, and mold. This may be varied by using boiling water instead of milk for cooking, adding the juice of one or two lemons and a little grated rind to flavor.