Gelatinous Tapioca!

So I decided that I wanted a comfort food of sorts, preferably something warm, vanilla-y, and gooey, to soothe my riotous stomach. For whatever reason, I further decided that that something would be tapioca pudding. Why? Who the hell knows. I have never EVER been turned on by tapioca, what with it's fish-eye appearance and unappealing color. I think I tried it once or twice as a kid and had my expectations fully met. But, I suppose since I know that I can make gluten-free bread with tapioca starch, I deduced that tapioca itself would be ok for me to eat, and thus I opted to buy some giant tapioca pearls, find a few thousand tapioca recipes, and start cookin'.

I tried this recipe today and will undoubtedly try a different one next time, based on the fact that the final product, although actually really yummy, has a truly bizarre consistency. It's somewhere between Gak, Flubber, and straight-up goop. It's friggin' weird, but I still actually like it. It tasted as warm and comforting as I expected and I mostly didn't mind the goopiness...

Ingredients:

1/2 cup tapioca pearls (not instant)

2 cups soy milk, 1 cup coconut milk (recipe says 3 cups soy, but I'm almost out)

1/2 cup sugar (I used raw sugar and I didn't measure so it was probably closer to 1/4 cup since I'm stingy with sugar)

1/2 tsp. vanilla

I also added a dash of cinnamon, a tiny tish of ground cloves, and a hint of nutmeg.

Directions:

Soak the tapioca pearls in 2 cups of water for about an hour, then drain.

Combine the tapioca, milk, and sugar in a saucepan. I also combined the vanilla here, which apparently I wasn't supposed to do until after the next step...Stir the mixture over medium heat for about 20 minutes until thickened.

Now again, this is supposed to result in a pudding. I however wound up with something beyond that which probably no-one besides me will ever enjoy. I don't know if it has to do with the slight alterations I made to the recipe, how long I cooked it, or what. But hey, try it and see what happens...It's still warm, cinnamony comfort....