Brazilian Tapioca Crepes with Cheese

Ingredients

• 250 g tapioca flour
• 1⅖ dl water
• ½ tsp salt
• 150 g mozzarella, coarsely grated
• 20 g butter
• 3 tbsp desiccated coconut
• 1 tbsp white sugar

Method

1. 1.

   Hydrate the tapioca — Tip the tapioca flour into a wide bowl with the salt. Sprinkle the water over a little at a time, raking and rubbing with your fingertips after each addition, until the whole lot looks like damp sand — it should clump when you squeeze a handful and break apart cleanly when you poke it.

2. 2.

   Rest and sieve the granules — Cover and rest for 10 minutes so the water travels evenly through the starch, then push the whole lot through a coarse sieve into a second bowl, breaking up every lump with the heel of your hand. This sieving is what makes the difference between a tender crepe and a rubbery one.

3. 3.

   Set the crepe in a dry pan — Set a 20 cm nonstick pan over medium heat with no fat at all. Scatter a quarter of the granules over the base in an even layer right to the edge and level the top with the back of a spoon. Within about a minute the starch melts into itself and sets into one solid white disc.

4. 4.

   Fill with cheese and fold — Scatter a quarter of the mozzarella over one half of the disc and dot with a little of the butter. Cook another minute, until the underside is dry and the crepe lifts cleanly, then fold it over the cheese and press down for a few seconds. Slide onto a plate.

5. 5.

   Make the coconut version — Repeat for four crepes in all. Make the last two the sweet-salty way northeastern Brazilians eat them: mix the desiccated coconut with the sugar and scatter it over the melting cheese before folding. Eat every one straight from the pan — they turn leathery as they sit.