The newest member of our Intern Entourage is a dessert queen! Some of us have gained 5-10 pounds just by being around her. Her first contribution to ITS was submitting this is a very different but very refreshing Vietnamese dessert soup.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups water
  • 1-14.5 oz can coconut milk
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar (depending on ripeness of banana—for riper bananas, use less sugar)
  • 1/4 cup minute tapioca
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 ripe bananas
  • 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Serves 4

Bring water and coconut milk to a boil in a medium sauce pot. Stir in sugar, tapioca, and salt. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently. Slice bananas into quarters, lengthwise, then chop into 1/2-inch pieces (you should have about 1-1/2 cups total). Add the bananas to the tapioca mixture at the end of cooking, then cover and let stand for 15 minutes.You may serve the soup warm or at room temperature. The soup may also be put it in the refrigerator, chilled for 3 hours, and served. Note that the cooler the soup is, the thicker it will become.

Garnish each serving of soup with sesame seeds.

For more Soups of the Week Click Here

About Heather

Heather is originally from McClusky, ND (try to find that on a map!). She just graduated from the Art Institute of Phoenix with her baking and pastry associates’ degree. Most people don’t realize that Heather also has a B.A. in Chemistry and Math, a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, and has spent time in Australia with the Department of Energy doing computational chemistry research. To make a long story short, there is a lot of chemistry in baking. In the future, Heather is interested in pursuing the research and food-science aspect of the culinary arts and would like to participate in recipe development for major corporations.