Sago Pudding
1 quart water 2/3 cup brown sago 1/3 level teaspoon salt 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup dates stoned and cut into small pieces 1/4 cup walnuts cut into small pieces 1 tablespoon lemon juice Soak the sago in one cup of the water for one-half hour. Heat the remainder of the water to boiling, and stir into it the soaked sago, the sugar, and the salt. Cook in a double boiler, stirring occasionally, till the sago is transparent, which will require about twenty minutes. Then stir in the lemon juice, dates, and nuts. Serve either warm or cold, with cream or custard sauce.
A simple stovetop starch pudding that depends on one visual cue rather than a clock. Everything else is assembly.
- Watch for transparency, not the timerThe pearls are done when they turn from opaque white to clear all the way through, with no chalky centre. Twenty minutes is a guide; older or larger pearls can take half again as long, and undercooked sago stays gritty.
- Brown sagoSago is the starch of the sago palm, sold as small pearls; brown or unbleached sago is coarser and less refined than the white sort. Health-food and Asian groceries stock it. Small pearl tapioca is the usual substitute, though the texture will not be identical.
- The soak mattersHalf an hour in one cup of cold water hydrates the pearls before cooking. The cup is part of the quart, so the soaking water goes in with the pearls rather than being drained off.
- Double boilerThe insulated heat prevents the starch from scorching on the bottom, which happens easily over direct flame. If you have no double boiler, use a heavy saucepan on low heat and stir far more often than "occasionally."
- Add the acid last, as directedThe lemon juice goes in after cooking. Acid heated with starch can thin it, so following the given order is the safer course.
- Dates"Stoned" simply means pitted. The recipe already adds them after the cooking is finished, so they need no time on the heat.
- Yield and servingMakes roughly 4 to 6 servings. It thickens considerably as it cools, so if you plan to serve it cold, pull it from the heat while it still looks slightly loose.