Sago Pudding

About Pearl Sago

Sago is a starch extracted from the pith inside stems of the sago palm Metroxylon sagu. Sago forms a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the moluccas where it is called sagu and traditionally is cooked and eaten in the form of a pancake served with fish.
Sago looks like many other starches, and both sago and tapioca are produced commercially in the form of “pearls”. These two kinds of pearls are similar in appearance and may be used interchangeably in some dishes. This similarity causes some confusion in the names of dishes made with the pearls.
The sago starch is then either baked (resulting in a product analogous to bread or a pancake) or mixed with boiling water to form a kind of paste. Sago can be made into steamed puddings such as sago plum pudding, ground into a powder and used as a thickener for other dishes, or used as a dense glutinous flour.
Pearl sago, a commercial product, closely resembles pearl tapioca. Both typically are small (about 2 mm diameter) dry, opaque balls. Both may be white (if very pure) or coloured naturally grey, brown or black, or artificially pink, yellow, green, etc. When soaked and cooked, both become much larger, translucent, soft and spongy. Both are widely used in South Asian cuisine, in a variety of dishes, and around the world, usually in puddings. In India, pearl sago is called sabudana (“whole grain”) and is used in a variety of dishes.

INGREDIENTS


35 gm pearl sago
50 gm sugar
1 egg yolk
50 gm red bean paste
100 ml coconut milk
2 tablespoons milk
25 gm corn starch
1 tablespoon butter, melted
½ teaspoon custard powder


1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

2. Put the red bean paste into a small bowl, mesh with a spoon until smooth. Set aside.

3. Put the sago into a saucepan, cover and cook very gentle until soft and transparent.
4. Add in sugar and melted butter, stirring, until well mixed. Remove the pan from the heat.

5. Place the corn starch and custard powder in a bowl, stir in coconut milk until well mixed, then gradually stir in the milk.

6. Add the sago and heat very gently, stirring constantly until well mixed.

7. Beat the egg yolk in a separate bowl, then fold into the mixture.

8. Carefully pour the mixture into separate soufflé dish.

9. Bake the puddings for about 15-20 minutes, or until a light golden colour.

10. Just before serving, garnish with cherries. Serve at once.


**From “Next Magazine” and “Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”**

http://www.dessert.net.au/puddings/