Tapioca seems to be a love it or hate it food!
We make it with
acini di pepe pasta, but a lot of version do use tapioca. Some people claim that you can use couscous, which sounds a little weird to me, but I guess it’s not really any different.
@bluerose
@Nik
It’s one of those things for which there are probably as many recipes as there are families who make it. The main ingredient is, as I say, either
acini di pepe pasta (tiny pieces of pasta which are technically cylindrical but basically look round), tapioca, or (apparently) couscous (never tried this version). These are the “frog eyes”. You combine the cooked, cold pasta with a custard mixture typically made with eggs, pineapple juice, flour, sugar, and salt. You then combine with fruit (usually tinned pineapple and mandarin, but you can also add bananas and cherries) plus marshmallows and sometimes coconut. You can top it with whipped cream and more fruit. There are a lot of different recipes you can find, but the basic elements are the pasta (or tapioca), custard mixture, and fruit, plus the marshmallows and coconut if you like it and the optional cream topping. It’s quite quick to make, but you do have to refrigerate it for a long time, so probably too late to make it for this Thanksgiving unless you live in Hawaii (most people get started the night before).
It does, but it’s not ambrosia. The main difference is that frog eye salad contains pasta/tapioca/couscous (still skeptical about that one) and custard (egg mixture). I think of ambrosia as more of a Southern thing, whereas frog eye salad is more of a Mountain thing.
