Today, I boiled guavas in a simple syrup, blended the fruit and syrup in my high powered blender, and strained out the seed granules. It made an amazing nectar. While my daughter and I thought about just drinking it right then and there, I felt a little guilty about it (I guess it couldn’t be worse than downing a pitcher of koolaid??) so we set off on a quest to figure out how to use this delightful concoction.
In the end, this recipe turned out to be an aromatic treat that my family found comforting with a tropical flair. I hope you’ll love it as much as we do.
Tropical Tapioca with Guava, Cinnamon, and Vanilla Beans
3 cups milk
2/3 cups sugar
6 Tablespoons Minute Tapioca
2 eggs, beaten (or substitute 1 Tablespoon of chia for each egg)
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon vanilla, plus scrape the seeds from 1/2 a vanilla bean. Add bean pod to tapioca for flavor while cooking, but discard prior to serving)
Mix milk, nectar, sugar, and tapioca and eggs/chia in a medium sized pan. Add cinnamon stick, vanilla bean seeds, and pod. Cook on medium heat until mixture comes to a full boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.
Cool 20 min. Stir. Remove cinnamon stick and vanilla bean pod.
Spoon into dessert dishes and serve with a dollop of whipping cream and a vanilla bean sliver, lightly dusted with cinnamon.
Serve warm or chilled.
