Melon Sago Cooler Recipe

Melon Sago Cooler

Sweet Melon and Tapioca Pearls in Coconut Milk

This is an easy-to-make, refreshing dessert perfect for a hot summer day. In Southeast Asia, pearl sago made from the sago palm is more commonly used instead of tapioca pearls. Sago and tapioca pearls look alike and have similar properties. Be sure to buy the teeny-tiny white ones, not the larger brown ones used for making bubble tea. If you don’t have a melon baller, simply cut the melon flesh into ½-inch cubes.

 

• 3 cups honeydew melon or cantaloupe scooped into balls
• 6 cups water
• 2 cups ice cubes
• 1½ cups coconut milk
• 1 cup dried small tapioca pearls, rinsed
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup water
• 2 pandan leaves, trimmed and tied into separate knots
• Pinch of salt

1. In a large saucepan, bring the water to boil over high heat. Stir in the tapioca pearls and reduce the heat to medium. Cook until the pearls turn clear with the barest speck of white in the middle, 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Pour the tapioca into a sieve and rinse with cold running water to wash away the extra starch produced during boiling and to separate the individual pearls. Drain.

3. To make pandan syrup, combine the ½ cup sugar, ¼ cup water, and pandan leaves in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir continuously until the sugar dissolves, leaving behind a crystal-clear syrup, 8 to 10 minutes.

4. In a large punch bowl, combine the tapioca, melon, coconut milk, pandan syrup, salt, and ice cubes. Stir to mix well. Ladle into individual bowls and serve immediately.