Coconut Tapioca Dessert Soup

This is one of Hubby's favorite desserts in the summer to have chilled. I love it too. Most people make this with taro root but we don't particularly care for it so I never put any in there; we just add more water. Hence my recipe does not call for it.

You can make it more coconutty by adding another can of coconut milk instead of as much water but we like it this way just fine.

Soaking the tapioca pearls is really optional. If you don't, then it'll just take longer to cook. The starch from the tapioca pearls will make the mixture like a jelly. It's really kind of cool.

Coconut Tapioca Dessert Soup
(serves 10-12)

Ingredients:

• 8-10 cups water, divided plus more for soaking
• 1 13.5oz can coconut milk
• 1 cup tapioca pearls
• 1 cup sugar
• Ice (optional)

Directions:

1. (Optional) In a small bowl, soak tapioca pearls in water for 30 minutes. Drain. 
2. In a large pot, bring 6 cups of water to boil. Whisk in tapioca pearls. Keep whisking occassionally so they don't stick together and on the bottom of the pot. 
3. Once the pearls are mostly translucent and you only see tiny white dots (about the size of a millimeter) in the middle of some pearls, add sugar and coconut milk.
4. Bring to a gentle boil. Take off heat and let the pearls cook in the residual heat until pearls are completely translucent (I just leave the pot on the stove for a couple of hours while I nap or do something else). The mixture will thicken up as the pearls finish cooking.
5. Stir in enough water/ice to thin out mixture to your liking. I ended up using another 2 cups of water and 3 cups of ice.
6. Serve warm or chill in the fridge overnight (after the soup comes down to room temperature).