Sweet Potato Balls in Coconut Milk

Sweet Potato Balls in Coconut Milk

I am clearing my vegetables in the fridge and found some loose sweet potatoes of different varieties; Japanese, Indonesia and purple sweet potatoes. I boiled them and wanted to eat with grated coconut and sugar but I ran out of grated coconut so, I ended up making this dessert. This is just an impromptu dessert that I created with the boiled sweet potatoes and with the available ingredients in my pantry. You can use one type of sweet potato and just add some food coloring to make it colorful.

It is very simple dessert and if you are sweet potatoes and coconut lovers then you will probably like this. I just mashed the boiled potatoes added some glutinous rice flour until it forms a soft dough then I shaped them into small balls. I added a bit of coloring to make it colorful. I boiled them in coconut milk with sugar and then vanilla and pearl sago. You can add some pandan leaves (screwfine) for more flavors.

  

Sweet Potato Balls in Coconut Milk Recipe

Ingredients:

1 medium size Vietnamese purple sweet potato

1 medium size Indonesian sweet potato (Yellow color)

2 medium size Japanese sweet potatoes (light yellow), I divide this and add red food coloring on other portion.

3 cups glutinous rice flour (you may not need to use all this and may  have some left over)

1/3 cup sugar (white or brown) or more if you want sweeter

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup coconut cream (or you can use all coconut milk if you want a thinner soup)

80 grams cooked pearl sago (see below on how to cook the pearl sago)

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

2 leaves pandan leaves  knotted (optional)

4 pcs jack fruit, shredded (this is optional)

***Note: you can use one type of sweet potato and just add food coloring to make your dessert colorful***

Instructions:

Shaping the balls:

Boiled the sweet potatoes and once cooked mashed them separately (so not to mix the color) into very fine texture. You can use food processor here to save you some time if you have. Sieved the mashed sweet potato to get a very fine texture.

Add a tablespoon at a time of glutinous rice flour on the mashed sweet potato, till you get the soft dough that can hold and form a ball.

 

You can add some food coloring of your choice to make your balls colorful on the dough, just divide the dough and put the coloring on the other portion

Roll the dough into a log and cut it on the size you want your balls to be. Then roll each cut pieces into a ball.

 Do the same thing, for the other sweet potatoes till you finish all.

Cooking the sweet potato balls:

In a pot, dilute the coconut milk in 3 cups of water and bring to a boil, you can add the pandan leaves here if using. Stir occasionally to prevent the coconut milk to curdle. Stir-in the sugar till dissolve then pour-in the coconut cream.

Let it boil again, then drop-in all the sweet potato balls and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. If jack fruit is using put it here together with the balls

Once the balls floats it is cook already, add-in the vanilla and the cooked pearl sago then turn off the heat. 

 

You can serve it hot or cold. Enjoy!

For cooking Sago:

Bring a pot of water to boil (about 2 cups). Add sago and simmer for about 5 minutes. Turn off the stove, cover the pot with lid and let the sago continue to cook on its own for about 5 minutes, until all the sago turns translucent. Run the cooked sago through a fine sieve and running water to remove excess starch. Set aside