Sago in coconut milk with mango

Ingredientsserves 4

Method

1. Bring a litre of water to a rolling boil, add the sago, boil five minutes, then off the heat, lid on, fifteen to eighteen minutes until no white core remains; tip into iced water so the pearls tighten and separate. Boiled to the end without the rest, sago goes cloudy and gluey.
2. Dissolve the rock sugar in a cup of water. Warm the coconut cream, milk and syrup together over low heat only until warm and the sugar has dissolved, then take it off; never let it boil, or the coconut splits. Cool.
3. Stir the sago into the cooled coconut base and chill. Add the sago within the hour before serving; left longer it drinks the base and turns to paste.
4. For the mango version, blend one mango with a little cold water and dice the other. Layer each glass: sago first, then mango purée, then the coconut base poured slowly, then diced mango on top.
5. Cold in summer; in winter the plain coconut sago is also served warm, heated gently until just warm and, again, never boiled.

Take care

• Contains milk. Coconut is not a declared tree-nut allergen in Australia; anyone allergic to coconut should take note.

The story

西米露 is the 糖水舖 base that everything else sits in, and the first 糖水 a Hong Kong child is allowed to make alone, because nothing in it needs a knife. In the diaspora it is the dessert made for a barbecue, cold in a big bowl, and every Australian guest asks what the pearls are.

Same wall

Mango, pomelo and sagoMango pudding

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.