I already wrote that, despite the rather modest assortment of cereals, in the USSR they did not know what couscous, bulgur, spelled were (despite the fact that spelled is very Russian groats) - in ordinary stores, in showcases, very interesting products were sometimes displayed, now - practically forgotten.
I have already written about sorghum - a cereal that was very well known then, but now undeservedly despised - but today... let's remember about sago.
The first time I consciously noted this name in childhood, reading "Mary Poppins." There was a scene - the nanny bought a pound of roofing felts, or two sago instead of rhubarb. The next time the name flashed in "Around the World" - they showed the extraction of sago from sago palms
The children's imagination, as I already wrote, played a joke, and replaced sago with sorghum - another cereal that stands on the shelves next to sago and is now almost forgotten (only ardent ZOZhniki cook it).
And sago ...
For some reason, this porridge was ignored at home. And, I must confess, for a long time I thought that it was very unpopular, perhaps because it was not tasty? Moreover, in the book about Mary Poppins, the children, as far as I remember, were not particularly happy with the purchase ...
But in the comments to the publication about sorghum, many people were noted who - like me - noted the consonance of the names and wrote that they loved sago very much in childhood. And how was it to miss the sago after that?
The first discovery I made in adulthood was that sago is unlike any other croup I have known before.
In English-language recipes, it is often compared to pearls, and they write it - sago pearls. And sago and tapioca, it turns out, are the same thing? Although I could be wrong about that.
Second, it turns out that there are many ways to use sago, from soups to minced meat, but one of the most popular is sago in desserts.
However, I wanted to find a recipe that could be authentic to the porridge that Mary Poppins fed her wards. Well, here is such an unclosed childish gestalt.
Succeeded!
So, we take:
One and a half glass of water
A glass of heavy cream (or good milk)
¾ glasses of sago
3 cloves
Cinnamon stick
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
salt and sugar to taste
For lovers of authentic flavors - you can add one bay leaf, but I didn't dare. And you can not add spices at all, I think they were cooked in the USSR without them (spices in porridge are not our traditions).
How we cook:
To begin with, we soak the sago for 10 minutes. Then we boil the water (one and a half glasses), and pour the soaked sago into the boiling water.
Cook for ten minutes, stirring constantly - otherwise it will stick to the pan, because in fact, sago is starch. At the end of these ten minutes, add spices, add some salt and cook for another five minutes.
Further actions puzzled me. In general, add milk to the water with sago and cook for another five minutes. But in this case, the dish turns out to be very liquid. Therefore, as for me, it is better to drain the water, add milk, boil everything again and cook for another 5 minutes.
Then add sugar to taste, candied nuts, butter, if necessary, and... Bon appetit!