This dessert marries beautifully spices, nuts and citrus.
Having all these different elements allows you to break down the dessert and use just some of the elements. The tapioca Varvara on its own makes a lovely breakfast dish to have cold or hot. I made extra as I really enjoy this kind of seeds and nuts breakfast.
Ingredients (serves 4)
- For the blood orange jelly
- 500ml blood orange juice (approx. 7-8 oranges)
- 1 blood orange, zest only
- 2 ¾ gelatine leaves
For the tapioca Varvara
- 75g small tapioca pearls
- 50g sultanas
- 50g sesame seeds, dry roasted in a frying pan until nutty and fragrant
- 1 ½ heaped tbsp flour,
- ½ tsp cinnamon powder
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- 4-5 tbsp agave or maple syrup
- 2 tbsp toasted almond flakes
Cashew cream
- 100g cashew nuts
- 1 tbsp agave syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
Preheat the oven to 200 0 C.
Put the sesame seeds on a flat baking sheet and bake for approx. 10 minutes until they release their nutty aromas. Leave to cool and whizz in a small blender to break up enough for its full aroma to come out.
Put the flour in a dish and bake too for 20 minutes, stirring half way through until brown and nutty. Leave to cool.
To make the blood orange jelly, soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 10 minutes. Put the juice and zest in a saucepan and warm up. Squeeze the gelatine leaves and stir them in the juice to melt. Leave the jelly to cool a little and fill one third of four pretty glasses. Put in the fridge for a few hours for the jelly to set.
To make the Varvara, put 1 litre of water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the tapioca, give it a good stir and cook for 5 minutes. Take away from the heat and leave to stand for 15 minutes. The tapioca should now be translucent. Strain and keep the liquid in which the tapioca cooked but rinse the tapioca to stop it cooking any further. If you see any white bits in the pearls, boil for a few more minutes before draining and rinsing under cold water.
Take 100ml of the tapioca water and stir the roasted flour into it ensuring that there are no lumps. Return the rest of the tapioca water in a saucepan and heat. Add the spices, sultanas, flour, syrup and crushed sesame seeds and keep whisking while the tapioca is cooking until it reaches boiling point. Continue cooking for a couple of minutes and remove from the heat. Leave to cool a little and use some of it to top the set jelly.
To make the cashews cream, if you have a powerful blender you can just blend them dry as they are with the water and syrup. Otherwise soak the cashews in water for a few hours before blending into a smooth cream. I find that a stick blender works very well with this. Spoon some of the cream into the glasses and leave in the fridge till you need to serve.
You may top the dessert with vegan meringue too or decorated with nuts, candied blood orange slices, pomegranate seeds, or edible flours and mint leaves.
