Homemade tapioca

We eat a lot of tapioca in our house this time of year.  In fact my husband has a tapioca compartment as well as a peanut compartment and a chip and salsa compartment that he has to fill on a regular basis, normally at night before he goes to bed.  Now if I were to indulge myself and fill my compartments before bed, I would be gaining weight every week with no end in sight.  Not so my dear husband, I'm not quite sure how he does it but I wish I knew his secret.

I thought I would share our recipe with you since it is such a big hit around here.  I will warn you that is has a lot of eggs in it therefore it has lots of fat and calories.  This is an estimation of a recipe since I don't always measure exactly.

Goat milk Tapioca Pudding

1 and 1/2 cup tapioca pearls
1 gallon raw goat milk
1 cup sugar or maple syrup (you can add more but we don't like it too sweet)
9-12 eggs beaten in separate bowl
1/2 tsp salt
vanilla

You have to soak the tapioca at least 6 hours before you cook the pudding so I usually start the tapioca soaking before I go to bed the night before.  Place the pearls in a bowl and cover with warm spring water.  Allow for expansion since the pearls soak up the water and get softer.
The next day place a gallon of milk up in a heavy bottom pot.  

• Crack the eggs in a bowl and beat until bright yellow.
• Add the sugar and salt to the milk and heat until steamy
• Add some milk to the eggs and stir in to temper the eggs then add the eggs to the pot of milk stirring constantly
• Heat and stir well until thickens and coats a spoon.  I use a hand blender as well as the spoon to make sure it is creamy.
• When the tapioca is thick add the vanilla and stir in well.  
• Let cool, stirring occasionally as it cools, refrigerate
• Once nice and cold enjoy.

It is important to stir as it cools because a lot of the tapioca pearls will end up on the bottom half of the pudding if you don't.