Sat Bain's Marmite puffs

I was lucky enough to be able to do the Kitchen Bench experience at Restaurant Sat Bains with some friends. This was the umami part of the course all about the five flavour elements.

We couldn't work out what it was made from so asked the chefs, and Sat Bains came over and explained the recipe! This roughly what he told us.

Ingredients

• 300g tapioca pearls
• 3l water
• A big spoon of Marmite

Method

1. Boil the tapoica in the water for 60 minutes.
2. Strain the pearls out, keeping the cooking liquid.
3. Put the pearls back in the cooking pot with 1l of the cooking liquid and the Marmite.
4. Stir to dissolve the Marmite and leave to cool to room temperature.
5. Spread the tapioca into a single layer on a tray then dehydrate at 50°C until crisp, around 3 hours.
6. Break into shards and deep fry.

Notes

He said you could use anything to flavour the tapioca, but they've found it's best with very savoury things eg. parmesan or Marmite.