Coconut Tapioca Dessert Soup (aka Sago; Sai Mai Lo)

Directions

• Bring two medium pots of water to a rolling boil.
• 1st pot: Make a simple syrup by adding white granulated sugar and mix until all dissolved then turn off the heat to let it cool.
  
  2nd pot: Add small white tapioca pearls and let cook until the tapioca turns mostly clear (around 10-15 minutes).
• 1st pot: Once the simple syrup has cooled, pour it into a glass container to store in the refrigerator.
  
  2nd pot: When the tapioca is done, drain the tapioca in a fine strainer and rinse the tapioca with cold water. Pour tapioca pearls into another glass container. Add some of the simple syrup to the tapioca until it covers all the tapioca well and stir to ensure the tapioca is not sticking to each other in the syrup. Cover tapioca with a lid and refrigerate overnight. Note: tapioca may expand further overnight, so make sure the container has a little space at the top, so it won’t overflow.
• Next day, when you are ready to serve the tapioca dessert, do the following: Open a can of coconut milk and stir until the coconut milk is smooth. Spoon tapioca into an individual bowl, then add the coconut milk, regular milk, and additional simple syrup to desired taste and sweetness. I like to use half coconut milk and half regular milk and about 2 tablespoons of simple syrup. Stir together until well combined and then serve.
• Optional: to add additional flavors to this, mix in pureed fruit and fruit chunks. Honeydew melon with melon balls or pureed mango with mango chunks are popular flavors.