This recipe is from Hong Kong. There's a cafe in a shopping centre there, which only serves Cantonese desserts. My daughter took us there. She discovered the cafe when her friend suggested they meet there. Her friend is a fashion model and enjoys the desserts because she doesn't have to worry about the calories in them. Most of the dishes are sugar and fat free, or at least very low fat. Apparently the cafe is popular with Hong Kong models, but we didn't notice anyone who we thought might be a model when we were there. But, maybe there were some. I guess they don't walk about town the way they walk on the catwalk. And they probably wear more subdued clothes when they're off duty.
But, models or no models, it turned out to be a pleasant afternoon indulgence. We decided to order a selection of different desserts to sample and the water was very kind and brought us little paper plates so we could share out the desserts. She even suggested which ones we might like to order in order to sample a wide range of tastes. A couple of the dishes were really weird, I have to say. There were some very unusual textures and tastes, but we enjoyed most of the desserts and a few were unanimously voted excellent. My favourite was the dish I'm going to describe here. Lucky for me, it is probably the easiest to prepare from all those we tried. It doesn't take long to do. You could cook the sago beforehand, but even though it takes 30 minutes to make, you don't really have to keep an eye on it, so you can start it off and then prepare the other ingredients. If you use powdered coconut milk, prepare it before you peel and chop the fruit so that it has some time to chill in the fridge (or even the freezer).
In the ingredients, I've specified the kind of fruit that was in the original dish - mango, watermelon and papaya - but I think this recipe would work with other fruits. I've already suggested replacing the watermelon with melon (i tried that and it's good), but how about using pineapple, pears or peaches? Lychees or rambutans might be nice too.
This should be enough for four people.
Ingredients
1 large mango
A large piece of watermelon (or melon)
Half a papaya
About half a cup of sago
300-400ml chilled coconut milk
Begin by cooking the sago. This is easy when you know how. It took me a while to find out. Heat three or four cups of water in a small pan and when it starts to boil, chuck in the sago and stir once. When the mixture returns to the boil, turn off the heat and cover the pan. Let it sit for twenty minutes and then repeat the process - bring to the boil, turn off the heat and cover. Let the pan sit for another ten minutes then rinse the sago with cold water and drain.
Next, remove the skin from the fruit and cut into pieces. The mango can be a bit fiddly because of the big fibrous seed in the centre, but you'll find your own way. Divide the chopped fruit equally between some small bowls, add a tablespoon of sago to each and then pour over some coconut milk. Serve immediately.