How to Cook Sago

Cooked Sago

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This is a step-by-step recipe for cooking sago pearls. Sago is largely tasteless in my opinion, but when added to Chinese desserts such as green bean soup and mango sago, the sago takes on a life on its own. The sago has a nice jelly-like and refreshing texture, and very cute to look at too because they are translucent.

See Also: Easy Chinese Desserts

The first time I cooked sago, I was totally clueless about how to prepare it. If there is one important lesson I learnt, that will be to always cook it separately from the dessert and to rinse it through a sieve, before adding to the dessert. Otherwise, the dessert will become too thick and gluey, as sago is essentially extracted starch.

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How to Cook Sago (Step-by-Step)
step1 Boil a small pot of water. When the water is boiling, add the sago. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Occasionally stir the sides and bottom of the pot to prevent sticking
How to Cook Sago After 10 minutes, the sago had turned partially translucent but you can still see some white dots. Turn off the flame.
How to Cook Sago Cover the pot with lid. Let it stand for 10 minutes. The sago will continue cooking by itself.
How to Cook Sago After the standing time of 10 minutes, the sago will turn fully translucent.
How to Cook Sago Rinse the cooked sago through a sieve and running water. This will remove the excess starch.
Cooked Sago Keep sago in a bowl of water until ready to use.
Red Bean Soup Add drained prepared sago to cooked Chinese desserts such as red bean soup.
Raw Sago

Raw Sago

How to Cook Sago

You can add sago to many Chinese dessert sweet soups, giving the dessert an additional boost of texture.

Ingredients:

  • 50g sago (adjust the amount of sago to your needs)
  • water

You also need

  • Pot
  • Sieve

Directions:

  1. Boil a small pot of water. When the water is boiling, add the sago. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Occasionally stir the sides and bottom of the pot to prevent sticking.
  2. After 10 minutes, the sago had turned partially translucent. Turn off the flame, cover the pot with lid and let it stand for 10 minutes. The sago will continue cooking by itself and turn fully translucent.
  3. Rinse the cooked sago through a sieve and running water to remove the excess starch.
  4. Keep sago in a bowl of water until ready to use. Add prepared sago, drained, to your favourite Chinese dessert soups.