Coco-Bean Dream

I miss the Bay Area. I miss the grocery stores and the produce. I miss how all the Thai places in a 10 mile radius recognized my voice when I called in orders. I miss my friends, and I miss the food! I really miss the boba drinks. What is a boba? The bounty hunter you ask? No, but you are awfully cool if that was your guess. Boba, also known as bubble drinks, or tapioca drinks are a phenomenon. For those who hate tapioca they are not for you, and in fact just skip this post all together.

These drinks are usually tea, or smoothie-like drinks with large tapioca balls at the bottom. You can also order these lovely things with red beans at the bottom. The delicious beverage requires chewing which freaks some people out. The first time I tried one I was intrigued. I remember taking my first sip and thinking, “Oh, I am choking, and it is deeeelicious!”


My 2 most favorite bobas to get were “Thai Iced Tea, No Milk, with Boba” which is like liquid crack! My other favorite was a “Coco-bean with red beans”. This was a delicious concoction I had never had in all my years. Westerners really don’t have a lot of beans in their desserts. We think of beans as being “baked”, “chili”, or “refried”. None of these make you want dessert. I was skeptical, but after trying them I found them to be delightful! Adzuki beans are actually good for you too. Adzuki beans are good source of magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese and B vitamins. You can legitimately have dessert and call it healthy (in moderation folks!) Back to my precious “Coco-Bean”. This beverage consisted of coconut milk, ice, and red beans with some additional red beans at the bottom. Maybe on occasion I had them throw some tapioca pearls on the bottom too! It was like a party in a cup.


I really wanted to make a dessert reminiscent of this. I have ommited refined sugars, and eggs. So far we have a vegan treat with your choice of coconut sugar or agave. I don't use a lot, but feel free to adjust to taste! So here is my coco-bean dream...

Ingredients:

• 1 cups coconut milk
• ½ cup small pearl tapioca (not "Minute" tapioca, I recommend Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 cup coconut palm sugar divided
• ¼  t. salt
• ½ t. GF vanilla extract
• 1 ⅓ C. Adzuki Bean

Adzuki Bean Note: You can certainly buy this already prepared at an Asian market (usually frozen), but I will be honest with you, there is a lot of sugar in them. If you want to control the amount of sugar you are consuming make them on your own. You can freeze the leftovers if you would like. Bean paste is actually supper delicious in pancakes, cookies, etc. You will find that the recipe asks you toss out the water and replace with new water while cooking. This helps get rid of some of the difficult to digest starches...I know, the the yummiest detail.

Preparing the Adzuki first as they take some prepping:

Put adzuki beans in a deep pot and pour enough water to cover them. Soak adzuki for a half day or overnight. Put the pot on high heat and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to medium and simmer adzuki for about 10 minutes. Drain in a colander. Put the adzuki beans back in the pot and add about four cups of water. Bring to a boil on high heat. Turn down the heat to low and simmer adzuki beans for about one hour, or until softened. Carefully drain the liquid from the pot. Add coconut sugar or agave and salt to your taste and stir adzuki. Further, simmer adzuki until it becomes your desired thickness. Stop the heat.

On to the pudding!

Please soak tapioca pearls in water for at least 30 minutes, but up to an hour or so. This will help with the cooking process.

Drain the water and place the coconut milk, almond milk, vanilla and coconut sugar/agave  in the pan. If you have a nut allergy go all coconut! Stir while it is on a low simmer. It will thicken without the need for GF flour or eggs. This should take approximately 15 minutes. You will know it is done when the pearls are translucent.

Serve chilled or warm with adzuki beans and your favorite fruit. I fancy mangoes myself! Hope you enjoy.