White Tapioca Tarts with Coconut Topping is a traditional Nyonya Kuih that is popular in Malaysia. Enjoyed as an afternoon snack or as a sweet dessert, this tapioca tart is very unique as its made from our local tapioca.
Have ready ingredients needed to make tapioca tarts filling.
Slice palm sugar into tiny pieces. Also knot pandan leaves.
Then in a saucepan or pot, put in the palm sugar, water and pandan leaves. Stir and cook till palm sugar fully dissolved.
Place grated white coconut into a bowl. Then add cornflour and stir to mix well.
Add the grated coconut into the fully dissolved palm sugar mixture in the pot. Using low heat, stir and cook till the coconut is cooked through, well mixed and is dry.
Dish up and leave to cool. Using a teaspoon, form into small balls and set aside. Then prepare to make tapioca tarts.
Preparing White Tapioca Tarts:
Have ready all ingredients to make the tapioca dough.
First peel, wash and cut tapioca into chunks. If possible, remove the centre hard fibre of the tapioca. Then place into a steaming tray.
Prepare steamer by bringing water to a rolling boil. Place cut tapioca into steamer steam over high heat for 45 minutes until very soft. Check for doneness with a fork.
Remove from steamer and immediately put the steamed tapioca into a bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat the hot tapioca using low speed. While beating, add in sugar, salt and slowly pour in the coconut milk to form into a smooth and non sticky dough.
Next, cut out some banana leaves into 5 cm small rounds for lining the tapioca tarts to be made.
Then, place the smooth tapioca dough on a sheet of plastic over a work tabletop. Divide the tapioca dough into 2 portions. Work on one portion first. Place another sheet of plastic over the dough and pressed well. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into 0.5 cm thick.
We are now ready to shape the tart dough. First, brush the tart cutter with a little oil to prevent the dough from sticking to it. Then using the tart cutter, press down into the dough and cut the dough into round. Then line the round dough with the cut banana leave.
Continue to cut the dough into rounds and line with the cut banana leaves. Then, place a dollop of filling in the centre of each cut dough and our white tapioca tarts are done!
Great to serve them as a sweet dessert in any get together or gatherings. So Enjoy!
If a cake mixer is not available, you can mash the cooked tapioca with a potato masher.
Use white tapioca to make these tarts instead of yellow tapioca as yellow tapioca is more sticky and may not be easy to shape into tarts.
When cooking the tart filling, use low heat to fry the grated coconut in the melted palm sugar. This will ensure that the coconut will not be burnt, is cooked through and will not turn sour and last for a longer period of time.