Many Chinese sweet desserts are quite light and refreshing. They are not very often found in the UK Chinese restaurants with plates of fresh fruits or fried banana fritters the more common options. I love eating sweet desserts after a heavy meal in Singapore especially like ice kachang, grass jelly and many more yummy delicious desserts. 
I am really pleased to come across this Sago Pearls with Melon recipe from the Chinese Feasts & Festivals published by Tuttle Publishing. This is a cookbook that is divided into two sections, covering feasts and festivals. It also explains the significance of each dish and a delicious recipe for its preparation. There are 57 delicious recipes in this book and is very unique. Normally you will find food gourmet photos in cookbook but in this book, all the dishes are illustrated by watercolour. The contents are beautifully laid out and it also explains the most important festivals, including the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mooncake Festival and Chinese New Year in detail. I enjoyed just reading the book.
I chose to make this simple sweet dessert as I have all the ingredients at home! I have been wanting to make this sweet dessert for ages! I had bought a 500g packet of white sago beads in a Chinese supermarket. They do come in coloured sago beads too and can be kept for a long time.
If you don’t like melon, you can swap it for mango or other fruits, you just need to adjust the proportion of fruits accordingly.
Ingredients:
- 1 honeydew melon/rock melon/cantaloupe
- 75g of sago beads/tapioca pearls
- 100g of sugar
- 500ml of thick coconut milk
- 500ml of water
Method:
- Halve the melon. Using a round melon baller or spoon, scoop out tiny balls of the flesh. Place the melon balls in a bowl and chill in the refrigerator. Scrape the remaining flesh from the melon and blend in a blender to a smooth purée. Set aside.
- In a saucepan, bring the water to boil and add the sago beads and cook until translucent. Make sure you keep stirring it and be careful not to burn it. Reduce the heat to low, add the sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. When cool, add the sago mixture with the coconut milk and melon purée. Chill the desserts in the refrigerator. The desserts will become quite thick and dense.
- Serve the dessert top with the melon balls.
This is quite a simple dessert to make. It tastes refreshing and will definitely end your meal in delight! I am thrilled to make this as I haven’t had a Chinese dessert for ages. The last time I had one was when I was in Singapore! My husband and kids love it too!
There are many more delicious recipes in the book like Drunken Chicken, Five Spice Rolls, Yangzhou Fried Rice, Chinese Hot Pot, Sweet Red Bean Pancakes and New Year’s Cakes. The book is available to buy on Amazon. 
Disclosure: We have received the sample to do this honest review. Contains affiliate link.
