Lemon sago
Here’s an old fashioned dessert that’s totally worth resurrecting. It’s the kind of thing popular in a previous epoch, when food options were more limited, everyone had a lemon tree, and people didn’t respond to the concept of sago with a screwed-up unhappy face. Or chants of ‘frog eggs! frog eggs!’(or was it ‘frog eyes’? Can’t remember). It’s a pudding straight from the Edmond’s playbook, where complicated recipes, technical wizardry, fancy equipment and fussy eaters need not apply. Granted, many of the recipes from that era were stodgy. And unexciting. But lemon sago is sparkling, both in appearance and zingy citrus flavour, so we hope you will give this simple sweet a red hot go. If you’re not sure what sago even is, it’s a starch extracted from types of tropical palms; it’s not terribly nutritious but does contain fibre, no gluten, zinc and antioxidants (who knew?) and has been linked to improving risk factors for heart disease. (Not if you eat it with all that whipped cream it isn't). Some food cultures use it in flour form but we’re talking the pearls here, easy enough to pick up at the super. Cooking it isn’t hard. You just boil it and it gets steadily thicker and more transparent; it’s cooked when it is clear and no longer opaque. Soaking it in water for 30 minutes before cooking does reduce the cooking time so do that if you have the time.
SERVES 4-6
100g (½ cup) sago
165g (¾ cup) caster sugar
finely grated rind of 3 lemons
125ml (½ cup) lemon juice
4 tsp golden syrup
Rinse the sago and drain well. Combine in a medium saucepan with the sugar, lemon rind and 750ml (3 cups) water. Stirring to dissolve the sugar, bring to a simmer over medium heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring often to prevent the sago catching on the bottom of the pan, for 20-25 minutes or until the sago is soft and translucent and the mixture is very thick. Remove from the heat and cool slightly. Stir in the lemon juice and golden syrup. Serve warm or cold with whipped cream.
