Brasa Brazil

Sagu de vinho is a Serra Gaúcha dessert: small cassava pearls cooked in red wine with sugar, clove, and cinnamon.

The pearl

Brazilian sagu is small pearls of fécula de mandioca, the same starch family as tapioca. In a US store buy small pearl tapioca. Instant pudding mix and large boba pearls are a different size and a different cook.

Ingredients (about 8 small bowls)

• 1 cup (200 g) small sagu/ small pearl tapioca
• 1 liter (4 cups) red wine, a young fruity red; seco if you want it less sweet, suave if you want it sweeter
• 1 liter (4 cups) water
• 1 cup (200 g) sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 to 4 whole cloves

Equal wine and water, one cup of pearls, one cup of sugar. The wine is cooked.

Method

1. In a wide pot bring the wine to a boil and let it go a few minutes.
2. Add the water, cinnamon, and cloves.
3. When it returns to a boil, stir in the sagu and keep stirring so the pearls do not stick.
4. Cook until the outside of each pearl is translucent, 20 to 30 minutes depending on the brand.
5. Stir in the sugar. Cook until it dissolves and the pearls are mostly clear, a white pin-dot in the center is fine.
6. Turn off the heat. The pearls keep cooking as the pot cools. For a firmer bite, some cooks add a splash of grape juice off the heat to stop them.
7. Fish out the stick and the cloves. Chill. Serve cold in small bowls.

A spoon of vanilla custard or creme de baunilha on top is the usual restaurant finish. It is optional at home.

How you know it’s done

The outside of each pearl is translucent, then mostly clear; a white pin-dot in the center is fine. The pearls set as they cool. Serve cold.

After a churrasco

Chill, then serve cold in small bowls. Leftovers keep three days in the fridge. Stir before serving.

Next cooks

• Desserts after a Brazilian churrasco
• Brazilian coffee after barbecue (cafezinho)
• Condensed-milk flan (pudim de leite)