The first time I had this was in Jiufen, Taiwan and I fell absolutely in love with the chewiness and texture with the tapioca balls. Traditionally they are made with taro but I love ube and sweet potato so that is what I’ve recreated it with. This bowl also highlights nodes of Cantonese cuisine in it with the coconut milk sago inspired by my other love- taro sago dessert (recipe on the blog). Basically it’s a big bowl of all my inspirations and things that I love: Chewy Ube & Sweet Potato balls, refreshing Grass Jelly, sweet Red Bean, rich Ginger infused Coconut Milk with Sago, fresh Mango, and a drizzle of Condensed Milk… must I continue?
Taiwanese Tapioca Ball Dessert | Sweet Potato and Ube Balls
A refreshing bowl chewy ube & sweet potato balls, refreshing grass jelly, sweet red bean, rich ginger infused coconut milk with sago, fresh mango, and a drizzle of condensed milk.
Equipment
- Steamer
- Masher
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 200g Adzuki Beans
- 1/4 cup Coconut Sugar substitute for brown sugar
- 300g Japanese Purple Yam (Ube)
- 300g Sweet Potato
- 200-250g Tapioca Starch/ Flour
- 2/3 cup Coconut Sugar adjust for sweetness
- 1/2 cup tapioca pearls (mini)
- 1" Ginger sliced
- 1 can Coconut milk
Assembly
- 2 cups Crushed Ice
- 1 can Grass Jelly cubed into 1 cm pieces
- 1.5 cups Mango (frozen / fresh) roughly cubed
- 1 can Condensed milk
Instructions
Red Bean
- Soak adzuki beans in warm water for 15-30 minutes. Drain and using an Instant Pot, combine beans in and fill with enough water to cover the beans. Manual High Pressure for 25 minutes. Quick Release.
- Allow the red bean to cool for 5 minutes, using a colander drain the excess bean water. Combine 1/4 cup of coconut sugar and set aside.
Ube and Sweet Potato Balls
- Peel and cube the sweet potato and Japanese purple yam (ube). Boil water with a steamer rack. Once boiled, steam the sweet potato and ube separately for 30 minutes until fork tender.
- Using a fork or a masher, mash the sweet potato and ube separately until smooth. Add in 1/3 cup coconut sugar to the sweet potato and ube while they are still hot.
- Add in 100-110g of tapioca starch/ flour into each of the bowls. Mix and knead the mixture together until it forms a ball. If it is to "sticky" add in 10g of tapioca starch until it no longer is. If it's too "dry" add in 10g of water.
- Dust your working station with tapioca starch. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Roll and shape each portion into a long log approximately 1.5 cm in diameter. Cut into 2cm pieces. Dust more tapioca starch to prevent them from sticking together.
Ginger Coconut Milk Sago
- Using a small pot, heat up 4 cups of water. Once boiled, add in 1/4 cup of sago (small tapioca pearls). Cook for 20 minutes or until the pearls are clear. Drain and set aside.
- Heat up 1 cup of water with 1" ginger slices with 1 2" piece of rock sugar or 1/4 cup brown sugar for 10 minutes. Cool and set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, add in your ginger sugar mixture, 1 can of coconut milk, and sago pearls. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
Cook the tapioca balls
- Using a medium pot, boil 5 cups of water. Once boiled, carefully lower in your tapioca balls (average out about 8-10 pieces per person). Cook for 5 minutes until the tapioca balls floats. Drain and place them into ice cold water until you are ready to serve.
Assembly
- Using a small serving bowl, add 1/2 cup of crushed ice (optional). Place in your tapioca balls, 3 tbsp mango, 3 tbsp grass jelly, 1 heaping scoop of red bean in the centre. Next carefully add in your coconut milk sago mixture until it fills the top of the bowl. Finish with a drizzle of condensed milk! Enjoy!
Let me know how you enjoy this recipe in the comments below! Stay tuned for more recipes!
xx, CWC
