Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Seboseb (Tapioca Coconut Pudding)
A silky Palauan pudding of tapioca starch cooked slowly with sugar and coconut milk until glossy and chewy, served cool.
Palauan · easy · serves 6
prep 5 min · cook 25 min
~270 cal · 1g protein · 38g carbs · 14g fat · 1g fiber · 36g sugars · 13g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Seboseb is one of Palau's best loved sweets, a glossy tapioca pudding that Palauans jokingly call a romance dish because it stretches and pulls yet refuses to let go.
Originally the starch came from a local plant root; today tapioca starch does the work, cooked patiently with water and sugar until it turns from milky to clear, then enriched with until thick and sticky.
It appears in bento boxes at custom gatherings and family feasts across Palau, served cool from the pot, one of the simplest and most nostalgic desserts on the islands.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
1 cup tapioca starch
4 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 can (about 1.5 cups)
Instructions
1
Off the heat, stir the tapioca starch, sugar and water together in a saucepan until the starch fully dissolves.
2
Set the pan over medium heat and stir constantly as the mixture heats and begins to simmer.
3
Keep stirring, without stopping, until it thickens to a smooth, glue-like, glossy paste.
✎ Chef’s note
Do not stop stirring; tapioca starch seizes into clumps the moment it is left alone, exactly like a gravy.
4
Pour in the coconut milk, lower the heat, and stir until the pudding turns thick and sticky again.
5
Take off the heat, let it cool, then chill and serve cool in small bowls.
Palauan custom-gathering dessert.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Ngerulmud. Ngerulmud is the world's smallest capital, on islands built around taro patches and coconut groves. Palauan cooking centres on reef fish and tuna, taro cooked in coconut milk, and the fruit bat and crab dishes reserved for occasions.
🗺️
Palau. Palauan cuisine is Micronesian and reef-driven, taro, cassava, fresh fish, and the giant fruit bat soup once served at feasts. Coconut, root crops, and the surrounding ocean define the island table.
🌍
Oceania. The staple crops here were carried on purpose. Lapita voyagers moving east from roughly three thousand years ago brought taro, yam, banana, breadfruit and coconut with them along with pigs and chickens, because most of the islands they settled had almost nothing edible growing on them. The earth oven travelled too, as umu, imu, hangi, lovo, mumu, motu and um.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Palau
DemokA rich Palauan taro-leaf soup thickened with coconut cream and studded with crab or fish.
Taro with Coconut SyrupSteamed taro drizzled with a warm caramel-like coconut syrup, a gently sweet Palauan breakfast built on the islands' staple root.
UlkoyGolden fritters of grated squash and small shrimp bound with a little flour and fried crisp, a favorite Palauan snack-lunch.
Browse all Palau recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Palau meal
Reef Fish in Coconut MilkDinner
Young Coconut WaterDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Seboseb (Tapioca Coconut Pudding)?
A silky Palauan pudding of tapioca starch cooked slowly with sugar and coconut milk until glossy and chewy, served cool.
Where does Seboseb (Tapioca Coconut Pudding) come from?
Seboseb (Tapioca Coconut Pudding) is a Palauan dish from Ngerulmud, Palau.
Can Seboseb (Tapioca Coconut Pudding) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Seboseb (Tapioca Coconut Pudding) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Seboseb (Tapioca Coconut Pudding) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Seboseb (Tapioca Coconut Pudding) take to make?
About 30 minutes total (5 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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