Rhubarb and Tapioca mould
9 March 2025 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
igenlodeIt's the time of year for the first (very expensive) rhubarb, and I tried out another of the rhubarb recipes from the Cold Sweets section of the 1920s cookery leaflet: Rhubarb and Tapioca Mould. Since I haven't seen any tapioca for years I used semolina instead, on the grounds that "We'll Eat Again" contains a recipe for 'fruit semolina' which is very similar -- presumably in order to save on the [wartime rationed] milk one would normally require for a semolina pudding.
You simply cook up your rhubarb with half its weight in sugar, a quarter of its weight in tapioca (or semolina), a little knob of butter, a little ginger, fresh or grated, and sufficient water to produce a thick pudding. I don't know if semolina requires more water than tapioca but rather suspect that it does as I had to add extra twice during the half-hour's slow simmering and stirring time. When the starch is thoroughly cooked and the rhubarb is entirely puréed, pour the result into a wetted mould and allow to set before serving with cream (or evaporated milk).
I did have trouble getting the set semolina out of the mould at all, and managed to break a bowl while doing so (I should have known better than to bang the mould down into it as it was the bowl that was already cracked from careless washing-up). But since it was forced rhubarb the result was a very pretty pink colour rather than the brown of cooked outdoor rhubarb from later in the season, and the sugar, butter and rhubarb juice made for a delightful sweet.
You simply cook up your rhubarb with half its weight in sugar, a quarter of its weight in tapioca (or semolina), a little knob of butter, a little ginger, fresh or grated, and sufficient water to produce a thick pudding. I don't know if semolina requires more water than tapioca but rather suspect that it does as I had to add extra twice during the half-hour's slow simmering and stirring time. When the starch is thoroughly cooked and the rhubarb is entirely puréed, pour the result into a wetted mould and allow to set before serving with cream (or evaporated milk).
I did have trouble getting the set semolina out of the mould at all, and managed to break a bowl while doing so (I should have known better than to bang the mould down into it as it was the bowl that was already cracked from careless washing-up). But since it was forced rhubarb the result was a very pretty pink colour rather than the brown of cooked outdoor rhubarb from later in the season, and the sugar, butter and rhubarb juice made for a delightful sweet.