This pink dragon fruit sago pudding recipe makes the prettiest tropical superfood dessert you’ll savour this season. Not only is this tropical fruit pudding delightful to look at – who doesn’t love pink sweets? – it’s a healthy dessert too. Red dragon fruit is a superfood, rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, high in fibre, and low in calories.
My pink dragon fruit sago pudding recipe will make you a pretty tropical fruit dessert that’s a delicious combination of the mango sago dessert and red dragon fruit smoothie recipes I recently published. It’s not only super scrummy, it’s a superfood.
If you don’t know red dragon fruit, it’s a superfood. Loaded with antioxidants, red dragon fruit is rich in vitamins and minerals, it’s also high in fibre, low in calories, and is great for gut health.
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Dragon Fruit Sago Pudding Recipe for a Pretty Pink Dessert That’s a Superfood Too
While I couldn’t care less if I ever ate another white dragon fruit again – it must be the most flavourless fruit – the pink or red dragon fruit is one of my most favourite tropical fruits and I’m completely addicted to it. When it’s in season I’ll not only buy red dragon fruit to eat fresh, I’ll freeze it to use for smoothies and desserts.
What’s the difference between white and pink or red dragon fruit? The white dragon fruit is fairly tasteless and that lack of flavour is even more disappointing when you’re trying it for the first time and expecting to taste something gloriously exotic, having gotten excited after seeing the vivid pink skin.
The red or pink dragon fruit is sweet, on the other hand, being higher in sugar, with the natural sweetness of sweet fruit, without being overbearingly sugary. For me, it actually doesn’t need the addition of sugar when used in smoothies or desserts but I include sugar as not everyone agrees.
One of my best food memories of our time here in Cambodia will always be the gift of sweet pieces of red dragon fruit, warm from the sun, the juice dripping down my chin, after a farmer plucked it from its prickly vine – it’s the fruit of a cactus plant – peeled and sliced it in the orchard, and shared it with our little group.
Just a few tips to making this pink dragon fruit sago pudding recipe and if you make it and enjoy it browse our collection of Asian dessert recipes.
Tips for Making this Pink Dragon Fruit Sago Pudding Recipe
I only have a few tips to making this pink dragon fruit sago pudding recipe. Our dragonfruit sago pudding must be made with pink or red dragon fruit not white dragon fruit. White dragon fruit is tasteless and won’t give you the flavour and colour you want.
If you clicked through to the red dragon fruit smoothie link above and are wondering why the smoothie is a deep pink-purple colour rather than pale pink, it’s because I’ve added a frozen banana to this dessert. While I love the additional creaminess from the banana, you’ll still get a wonderful creamy texture without it, if you prefer the more vibrant colour.
While I’m using sago pearls here, as they’re more readily available in Cambodia, you could use tapioca pearls, which are what we call ‘same same but different’ here. To learn more about the difference between sago and tapioca, click through to the mango sago dessert recipe link, above, where I provide a detailed explanation.
If you haven’t used sago or tapioca before, and you actually have directions on the product you buy, do follow those. I’ve tested numerous brands of sago and tapioca, as well as a no-name sago we buy here, and I’ve found the best results with the times in our dragon fruit sago pudding recipe.
I have not had good results from soaking the sago or tapioca first. In my experience, it results in a soft sago or tapioca pearl, which diminishes in size, creating a dessert with less texture, and falls apart producing a gluggy consistency that’s unpleasant to taste. I’ve found that the sago pearls retain their size, shape and a bouncier texture by boiling the sago pearls as I suggest in the recipe below.
Dragon Fruit Sago Pudding Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 fresh red dragon fruit diced and frozen
- 1 banana sliced and frozen
- 750 ml water
- 125 g sago
- 2 tsp caster sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp Greek-style yoghurt creamy
- 150 ml cold milk
- 1 fresh red dragon fruit diced
- red dragon fruit freshly diced
- 2 tbsp desiccated coconut grated
Instructions
- The night before you’re planning to make this, slice the tip off one dragon fruit, peel off the skin, which should come away easily, then slice and dice the dragon fruit flesh. Peel the banana and slice. Freeze both in an air-tight container or freezer bags overnight.
- The next day, start by making the sago: to a pot of 750 ml of boiling water, add the sago pearls and turn on your timer. Boil the sago for 10-12 minutes on high, ensuring a rolling boil is maintained, and stir every couple of minutes until the sago pearls are transparent.
- At around 12 minutes, reduce the heat to low and put the lid on the pot, but continue to check on the sago and stir it thoroughly every minute or so to ensure the pearls don’t stick to the pot, or at worst, burn on the bottom.
- By 15-16 minutes, the sago should have thickened up nicely. If the white dots have almost disappeared and the sago is coming away from the sides of the pot when you stir it, it’s almost ready. Turn off the heat, put the lid on the pot, take it off the stove, and let the sago steam.
- At 25 minutes, the sago should be done. If the sago is thick and all the white dots have gone, stir in a teaspoon of caster sugar and the salt, transfer it to a mixing bowl, and pop it in the fridge to cool.
- Add the frozen dragon fruit pieces and banana slices, yoghurt, cold milk, and sugar to a blender, and blend for 2-3 minutes until smooth, thick and creamy. Transfer to a container and return to the freezer to stay chilled until the sago is cold.
- When the sago is cold, peel and dice the other fresh dragon fruit and spoon the pieces into your serving glasses or glass bowls.
- To the bowl of chilled sago, add the dragon fruit cream that you blended, and stir until well-combined, then pour it into the glasses or bowls on top of the fresh dragon fruit. Garnish with a few pieces of diced dragon fruit and grated or desiccated coconut and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Please do let us know if you make our pink dragon fruit sago pudding recipe in the comments below, as we’d love to know how it turns out for you.
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