Mango pomelo sago

Units

Temperature

Servings

Ingredients

150 g small sago pearls, the small tapioca-style pearls, not the large ones used for bubble tea
1 L water, for boiling the sago

3 ripe mangoes, peeled and stoned; keep two-thirds of the flesh for the puree and dice the rest for topping
200 ml coconut milk, full-fat, well shaken before measuring
150 ml evaporated milk
50 g sugar, caster or rock sugar, to taste depending on how sweet the mangoes are
1 pinch of fine sea salt

1 pomelo, peeled and segmented, pith and membranes removed, flesh separated into small pieces

Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the sago pearls and boil for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally so they do not stick to the bottom. Take the pan off the heat, cover, and let the sago stand for 15 to 20 minutes, until every pearl has turned from a chalky white to fully translucent with no white core left. Drain in a fine sieve and rinse under cold running water, working the pearls gently with your fingers, until they are cool and no longer sticking together. Drain well.
While the sago steeps, peel and stone the mangoes. Set aside about a third of the flesh, cut into small dice, for the topping. Roughly chop the rest and blend it with the coconut milk, evaporated milk, sugar, and salt until smooth and pale orange.
Peel the pomelo down to the flesh, break it into segments, and pick off the pith and inner membrane. Gently separate each segment into small pieces with your fingers, keeping them as intact as you can.
Stir the drained sago into the mango-coconut cream. Divide between 4 bowls, or pour into one serving bowl, cover, and chill for at least 1 hour.
Just before serving, top with the reserved diced mango and the pomelo pieces so they stay bright and the pomelo keeps its texture instead of sinking into the cream.

Pomelo is often hard to find outside of Asian grocers in Germany. Segmented red or pink grapefruit is the closest substitute in texture, but it is noticeably more bitter and tart than pomelo, so taste a piece first and stir a little extra sugar into the cream if you need to balance it. Peel the grapefruit segments completely of membrane, the same way you would the pomelo, so no bitterness comes from that.
The whole dish rides on the mangoes. Use the ripest, most fragrant ones you can find; if they lean tart rather than sweet, add sugar to the cream a spoonful at a time and taste as you go.
The mango-coconut cream with sago keeps well covered in the fridge for up to 2 days. Add the diced mango and pomelo only when you are ready to serve, since both lose their texture and the mango’s color dulls if they sit in the cream too long.
Rinse the sago thoroughly after draining. Leftover surface starch is what makes sago pearls clump into a single mass as they cool.