Sweet Potato Balls in Coconut Sugar Syrup

Yes, yes, it’s two weeks in a row that I’m making something with purple sweet potatoes. I happened to buy too much of it, so… yeah. This is a traditional Indonesian dessert that after I made it, I realized that it resembles boba, but bigger balls (I am giggling like a schoolgirl as I type that) but softer and not as chewy. Don’t be surprised if sometime in the future I resurrect this in a different iteration that comes closer to boba. I don’t know about you, but I love balls.

Ingredients (in metric! Rejoice, you non-US residents!):

• For the sweet potato balls:
  • 200 grams cooked and mashed sweet potatoes (I used purple but traditionally the recipe calls for regular orange sweet potatoes)
  • 50 grams tapioca flour (making this also gluten-free)
  • pinch of salt
• For the coconut sugar syrup:
  • 100 grams coconut sugar (or palm sugar if you can find it)
  • 300 ml water (roughly 1.25 cups)
  • 2 pieces of pandan leaves (you can get this in the frozen section of Asian grocery store but it’s fine to omit if you can’t get it)
  • 2 teaspoons tapioca flour, mixed with 2 teaspoon water to create slurry
• For the coconut milk sauce:
  • 200 ml coconut milk or coconut cream (get the canned version and 200 ml is about half the can)
  • big pinch of salt
  • 1 piece of pandan leaf (also fine to omit if you can’t find it)

Directions:

1. Mix the mashed sweet potatoes, tapioca flour, and salt together in a medium mixing bowl. Knead until it forms a cohesive, non-sticky dough. This should take only a few minutes, this thing comes together quite fast. From the ball of dough, pinch about a teaspoon and roll them between the palms of your hands to form a small ball the size of a marble. Repeat until you run out of dough.
   
2. In a medium-size saucepan, combine coconut (or palm) sugar, water, and pandan leaves. Heat over medium-low heat until it simmers and the sugar has melted.
   
3. Meanwhile, in another medium-size saucepan, bring 1 liter (a little over 4 cups) of water to a rolling boil. After it boils, lower the heat to medium and then gently lower the sweet potato balls. Let the balls cook for a few minutes until they are cooked through. You’ll know this because they will float when they are done. With a slotted spoon, take them out and gently lower them into the other saucepan containing coconut sugar syrup. Let the syrup come to a simmer and then stir in the slurry to thicken slightly. Take off the heat and set aside while you make the sauce.
   
4. For the coconut milk sauce, combine the coconut milk (or cream), salt, and pandan leaf in a small saucepan and heat over medium-low. Bring it up to a simmer while stirring continuously to prevent the coconut milk from separating. Let it simmer for a few minutes to make sure the coconut milk is infused with the pandan. Take off the heat and set aside.
   
5. To serve, put the sweet potato balls and syrup in a bowl and then drizzle with coconut milk sauce. The saltiness of the coconut milk sauce will temper the sweetness of the syrup and it’ll taste a little bit like the salty cheese foam that some boba places put in their drinks. If you don’t use pandan leaves, this might even taste a bit like salted caramel.
   
6. Alternative serving: you can also mix in some water and ice in the coconut syrup and serve it cold. Don’t forget to still drizzle with coconut milk sauce.

Aside from having an overabundance of purple sweet potatoes, I am also doing this recipe because it’s nostalgic. I always thought that I didn’t get into cooking/baking until I went to culinary school but I found evidence that I’ve always been obsessed, I mean interested, with food since my younger days. This recipe (also known as Bubur Biji Salak in Indonesian) was one of the ones I made regularly in my early teen years. Another thing I did during that time is that I wrote every recipe that I attempted in a small notebook. When I unearthed that notebook recently, I was pleasantly surprised because I realized that I basically wrote my own cookbook at the age of 13. To be honest, this notebook hit me in the feels so much. I am proud of my young self for her tenacity in trying out these recipes (some of which aren’t easy) and how well she understood the importance of including certain things like glossary and measurement conversions in this cookbook. The back of it even had a definition of Michelin Star! Aside from feeling pride, I also feel like this notebook is a message of encouragement from my young self. If she could do it at 13, I can certainly do this as an adult. ❤ I included some pictures below. They are all in Indonesian language obviously, but I will probably rewrite some of them in English and posting them here in the future.

• 

• 

• 

• 

•