Brazilian Creamy Mingau Tapioca and Coconut Milk Porridge

For today’s recipe, we have something absolutely delightful, a beautiful mingau! If you’re not familiar with mingau, it’s essentially the Brazilian equivalent of a creamy porridge, and it can be made from all sorts of different ingredients like flours, starches, cereals, or in this case, granulated tapioca. This is a delicious and easy-to-make dessert that you can enjoy warm right after cooking or pour into bowls and eat cold, when chilled, it becomes even more luxuriously creamy (well thats my opinion heheheh).

Tapioca Mingau is a delicious and comforting dessert that’s incredibly popular in the northern and northeastern regions of Brazil, as well as beloved throughout Portugal. Made from tapioca, a starch extracted from cassava root, this mingau combines simplicity and flavour in a creamy, smooth texture with a lovely hint of sweet cinnamon. Cassava, brought by the Portuguese to various parts of the world, found its perfect home in Brazil, where it became the foundation for countless recipes, both sweet and savoury. Now, let’s get to the recipe!

Brazilian Creamy Mingau Tapioca and Coconut Milk Porridge

Servings: 4
Time: 25mins
Difficulty: Easy
Rating: ★★★★★
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Ingredients

Granulated Tapioca – 5.3 oz (150g)
Milk – 2½ Cups (600ml, 2% milk)
Sugar – 3 Tablespoons (40g)
Lemon – 2 Peels (optional)
Cinnamon – 1 Stick (Optional)
Cinnamon – To Taste (Ground for Sprinkling)
Salt – A Pinch

Directions

I like to soak the tapioca in cold water overnight, simply put the tapioca in a bowl, cover with cold water, and leave it in the refrigerator (If you haven’t done this ahead of time, soaking the tapioca for about 2 hours is sufficient for the tapioca to properly hydrate).
The next day when you’re ready to cook, pour the milk and hydrated tapioca into a small saucepan. Use a fork or wooden spoon to break up any tapioca clumps.

Add the lemon peel, cinnamon stick, and sugar. Mix everything well and turn the heat to medium.
Gradually, the mixture will begin to thicken (you need to be patient here!). When you feel it’s thickening nicely, let it cook for another minute and it’s ready.

Remove from heat, take out the cinnamon stick and lemon peel, and serve immediately. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon or shredded coconut. If you want cold just put it in bowls cover and take it to the fridge to cool down completly! Bom apetite!

Notes: I used granulated tapioca for this recipe, but you can also use small tapioca pearls without any problems, it just changes the texture slightly. It’s also very common to modify or add ingredients to make it your own style. Love chocolate? Add a bit of chocolate milk powder. Enjoy nuts or raisins? Toss them in at the end. Coconut fan? You can add shredded coconut at the finish, or replace part of the regular milk with coconut milk for an extra tropical twist. If you prefer something fresher, try adding fresh fruits.

You can also adjust the amounts of milk or tapioca to create a mingau that suits your preference perfectly. Want it thicker? Add more tapioca. Prefer it more liquid? Add a bit more milk. You can also swap out the regular sugar for brown sugar, muscovado sugar, syrups, or honey to create different flavour profiles.

This recipe for Brazilian Creamy Mingau Tapioca and Coconut Milk Porridge was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Mingau Doce de Tapioca Brasileira foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.