Mango Sago with Coconut (西米露): The Summer Sweet Soup Everyone Loves

Of all the chilled sweet soups of summer, this is the crowd-pleaser — the one that disappears fastest at a gathering. Little chewy tapioca pearls suspended in sweet, creamy coconut, studded with ripe mango, served ice-cold. Mango sago (西米露, xī mǐ lù) hits every note at once: cool, fruity, creamy, and just chewy enough to keep every spoonful interesting.

It looks impressive in a glass, but it's genuinely easy — a fruit-and-coconut assembly job, really. There's only one step that trips people up, and once you know the trick, it's foolproof.

The one thing to get right: cooking the sago

Sago (small tapioca pearls) is the whole texture of this dessert, and it's where most first attempts go wrong — the pearls come out either hard in the middle or dissolved into glue. Here's the reliable method:

1. Bring a generous pot of water to a rolling boil — far more water than pearls, since they need room to move.
2. Add the sago, stir right away so they don't stick, and boil for about 10–15 minutes, stirring now and then.
3. When the pearls are almost clear but still have a tiny white dot in the center, turn off the heat, cover, and let them sit for about 10 minutes. The residual heat finishes them through to fully translucent.
4. Drain and rinse under cold water. This stops the cooking and washes off excess starch so they stay separate and springy rather than gluey.

That's it — clear, bouncy pearls, no gumminess. Cook them just before assembling; they're best fresh.

Ingredients

Makes about 4 servings

• 80g (about ½ cup) small sago / tapioca pearls (西米)
• 2 ripe mangoes
• 200ml (about ¾ cup) coconut milk
• 150ml (about ⅔ cup) milk, or more coconut milk for dairy-free
• 30–40g rock sugar or regular sugar, to taste (adjust to your mangoes' sweetness)
• Optional: a splash of evaporated milk for extra richness

How to make it

1. Cook the sago using the method above. Drain, rinse cold, and set aside.

2. Make the mango base. Peel the mangoes. Blend about two-thirds of the flesh with the coconut milk, milk, and sugar until smooth. Cut the remaining third into small cubes to fold in later for texture.

3. Sweeten to taste. Taste the blended base — ripe mangoes vary a lot in sweetness, so adjust the sugar now while you can still dissolve it (warm a little of the liquid if needed).

4. Combine. Stir the cooked sago and the mango cubes into the mango-coconut base.

5. Chill and serve. Refrigerate for at least an hour and serve cold, in bowls or glasses. It's meant to be eaten cold — the colder the better on a hot day.

Tips

• Use ripe, fragrant mangoes. This dessert lives and dies by the fruit. Champagne/Ataulfo mangoes are especially sweet and smooth if you can find them.
• Cook sago fresh. It firms up and clumps in the fridge, so cook it the same day you serve. If it stiffens, a quick rinse loosens it.
• Adjust thickness. Too thick? Loosen with a little more milk or coconut milk. Too thin? Blend in more mango.
• Make it dairy-free. Use all coconut milk (and a splash of coconut cream for richness) instead of dairy milk.

More chilled sweet soups for summer

If mango sago is your kind of thing, you'll like the other cooling bowls on the site: the classic sweet mung bean soup, the silky chilled snow fungus soup with pear, and red bean soup over ice.

New sweet soup recipes land here every week — subscribe below to cook along.