Tapioca crêpe
Tapioca: a chewy cassava-starch crêpe with cheese or sweet coconut filling
Tapioca is the Northeast's favourite breakfast, cooked on griddles at beach stalls from Recife to Fortaleza and now loved all over Brazil. Damp cassava starch (goma) is sieved into a hot dry pan, where it fuses into a thin white disc that's soft, chewy and slightly crisp. This recipe gives two classic fillings: melting cheese with butter, and coconut with condensed milk. Chef's tip: hydrate the starch until it feels like damp sand that holds when squeezed, then sieve it into the pan and never press it down. A loose, even layer is what makes the starch melt into one lacy, flexible sheet.
- Total time
- 15 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the goma (tapioca dough)
- 9 oz tapioca starch
- ½ cup waterroughly
- ¼ tsp salt
Cheese filling (2 tapiocas)
- 4 oz queijo coalho or mozzarellagrated
- ⅔ oz butter
Coconut filling (2 tapiocas)
- 1 ¾ oz fresh or desiccated coconutgrated
- 4 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Fresh ingredients (2)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Mix the ¼ tsp salt into the 9 oz tapioca starch, then add the ½ cup water a little at a time, rubbing it in with your fingertips. Stop when the starch clumps when squeezed in your fist but crumbles back when you rub it; it should never become a paste. Leave for 5 minutes. (Ready-hydrated goma from Brazilian shops skips this step.)
5 minStep 2: Push the damp starch through a sieve into a bowl; you'll get fine, fluffy crumbs.
Step 3: Heat a 20 cm non-stick frying pan over a medium heat, with no oil. Sieve or sprinkle in about 4 tbsp of the crumbs to cover the base evenly, about 4 mm thick, and smooth the edges with a spoon without pressing.
2 minStep 4: Cook for about 1 minute, until the starch melts together into one sheet and the edges lift from the pan. Give the pan a shake: the whole disc should slide. It stays white; you aren't looking for colour.
1 minStep 5: For the cheese tapioca, spread half the ⅓ oz butter over one half, scatter over half the 2 ⅛ oz queijo coalho or mozzarella, fold in half and cook 30 seconds more on each side until the cheese melts. For the sweet one, fill with half the ⅞ oz fresh or desiccated coconut and drizzle with half the 2 tbsp sweetened condensed milk before folding.
1 minStep 6: Repeat with the rest of the goma and the remaining ⅓ oz butter, 2 ⅛ oz queijo coalho or mozzarella, ⅞ oz fresh or desiccated coconut and 2 tbsp sweetened condensed milk. Eat straight away; tapioca toughens as it cools.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 330 kcal
- Protein
- 7 g
- Carbs
- 50 g
- Fat
- 12 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does tapioca crêpe take?
- About 15 minutes in total: 5 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of queijo coalho or mozzarella?
- Provolone or a mild cheddar, same amount.
- What can I use instead of butter?
- The same weight of ghee or coconut oil (for frying and most baking).
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Bsissa
A tin of bsissa sits in many Tunisian kitchen cupboards, from Tunis flats to farmhouses in the south: a finely ground flour of roasted barley, roasted chickpeas and spices such as coriander, fennel and aniseed. In the morning a few spoonfuls are worked with olive oil and something sweet into a nutty, crumbly paste, or stirred with water into a thick drink, and it keeps you going until lunch. Travellers and pilgrims once carried it for the road. Roasting your own flour takes 15 minutes and makes a jar that lasts weeks. Sugar and dates keep it vegan; some families use honey. Chef's tip: roast the flours separately over a low heat and stir constantly; the moment they smell like toasted biscuits and turn light tan, tip them out of the pan.
Tunisian
Sabudana khichdi
Sabudana khichdi is the dish that sees Maharashtra through every vrat (fast), from Navratri to Ekadashi, but it's so good that people eat it any day of the week. Soaked sago pearls are tossed in a pan with crushed roasted peanuts, cubes of potato, cumin and green chilli until each pearl turns glassy and separate, then finished with lemon and coriander. It's soft, chewy, nutty and gently hot. Fasting rules vary from family to family, so check yours; this version uses rock salt and no asafoetida, onion or garlic. Traditionally it's cooked in ghee; use ghee instead of oil if you aren't keeping it vegan. Chef's tip: soak the sago in just enough water to cover by the height of the pearls themselves, no more; too much water is the reason khichdi turns into one sticky lump.
Indian
Mysore masala dosa
Mysuru in Karnataka gave its name to this bolder dosa: a slightly thicker, golden crêpe that is crisp outside and soft inside, painted with a hot red chutney of dried chillies, garlic and roasted chana dal before the potato palya goes in. The chutney melts into the dosa as it cooks, so every bite has a sweet-spicy, garlicky kick. In Mysuru's old cafés it's served flat and folded, with coconut chutney to cool things down. Chef's tip: use Byadagi or Kashmiri chillies for the chutney; they give a deep red colour without blowing your head off, so you can spread it generously.
