More Eeeeeevil Experimentation

This time with tapioca. Yes, yes, if you don't like tapioca, just deal.

Here's what the recipe calls for:

1/3 cup small pearl tapioca
3/4 cup water

1.25 cups 2% milk
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, separated

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Because this recipe is very specific (2% milk rather than just "milk") and calls for separated eggs, I'm pretty sure this won't set with a straight substitution. So rather than relying on the whipped egg whites, I think I'll make this more like a cooked pudding and use arrowroot flour as a thickening agent. Since the egg yolks are probably for fat and flavor, and the egg whites are probably for texture, I'm not going to use the egg replacer in this recipe. Instead, I'll add some Dari-Free and a teeny bit of canola oil for the egg yolk and milk, and I'll use an arrowroot slurry for the egg whites.

And on top of all that, I'm doubling the recipe. 'Cause I'll probably want more later when I'm too lazy to cook it again.

So here goes:
2/3 cups small pearl tapioca
1.5 cups water

2.5 cups Pacific brand vanilla almond milk
pinch salt
2 tbs Dari-Free
1 tbs canola oil
1 cup Splenda

3 tbs arrowroot flour
extra almond milk

1 tsp vanilla (I use Watkins' Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla extract.)

I suspect that the recipe might need more almond milk than the 2.5 cups of milk that it calls for, but we'll see. [ETA: Duh. I forgot to double the milk amount. I tried it again with 4 cups and it worked a bit better, even if it was a bit more bland. But it's dang good and thickens really quickly with the 2.5 cups. So either way or anywhere in between works.]

Instructions:

Soak the tapioca in the water for 30 minutes.
Add the almond milk, salt, Dari-Free, canola oil, and Splenda and stir until it boils.
Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes. [It's already thick enough at this point that I might not need the arrowroot flour. Perhaps the egg whites are only to lighten up the texture a bit so it's not such a thick, dense pudding.]

Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Ok, so I didn't use the arrowroot flour because by the end of the 10-15 minutes, it was niiice and thick. And the result? Not bad at all.

And if you have tree nut allergies, then replace the almond milk with rice milk or whatever milk-like thing you usually use. The tapioca is what thickens the pudding, so it'll work with whatever. It might even work with juice (not that I'd really be interested in trying it made with juice...).