Casava/Tapioca Cake (kuih bingka ubi kayu)

The casava /tapioca is  a root/tuber, popular and versatile food in asia. It is also well known in Brazil, parts of Africa, in Polynesia and Sri Lanka by the name of manioc/maniok, yuca, kappa, singkong.  We eat it steamed and boiled like potatoes, fried like fritters, grated and steamed....every way but raw.  The young tips/leaves are also wonderful, stirfried with a spicy sauce.  Not only is the tapioca good for eating, it has other uses.  The tapica flour is used as organic glue, as sauce thickener (glutenfree) and starch for laundry (have you seen a shirt which stands on its own?) and in various food industries.

I went to town to pick up some sprouts in the Asian shop and spied the frozen grated casava in the freezer.  YUMM ! An image of casava cake/pudding, flan, cream brulee and caramel all in a package came to my mind.  One of my favourite afternoon snacks, eaten plain or with a palm sugar sauce.

Here is what I made with the grated casava ......

Tong Sui

Tong Sui: means sugar water in cantonese.

I have tried to explain to the europeans what TongSui means.  It's eaten between meals but sometimes served as a dessert but it's not cold.  It sometimes is quite heavy because it contains root vegetables but it is not part of main meal.
I've given up explaining now.  

More info you can find in Wikipedia.

Some people add rose essence, some just plain sugar and water. I prefer mine with coconut milk. And if that is not available, I would use cream.

From my freezer, I found 3 bananas and a piece of tapioca a.k.a. cassava/manioc.
The perfect thing for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Ingredients

• 1 can coconut milk (400 ml)
• 200 ml water
• 3 small bananas
• 250 gm sweet potato
• 250 gm tapioca
• 2 tbsp sago/tapioca pearls soaked in 1 cup of water
• sugar or palm sugar to taste

Method

1. Clean and cut sweet potato and tapioca into 3 cm cubes.
2. Place potato, tapioca and water, cook on medium heat till soft.
3. Add coconut milk and sago and simmer gently till sago is clear.
4. Add sugar/palm sugar to taste.