This creamy coconut milk-based "soup" has many treasures in it: cubes of taro, sweet potato, and purple yams, homemade taro and yam balls (tong yuen), sago pearls, and grass jelly. One of my favourite things about Chinese dessert soups is that you can add any toppings you like — these are some my favourites!
Makes 6
Ingredients
Coconut Milk Base
1 1/2cup(355ml) coconut milk
1 1/2cup(355ml) whole milk
1/3cup(67g) granulated sugar, more if you like it sweeter
Toppings (*these are just suggestions!)
1 1/4cup(160g) taro root, purple yam, or sweet potato (or mixture), peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, steamed
1 cuphomemade or store-bought yam and taro balls, cooked
1cup(~half can) grass jelly, cut into cubes
3/4cupsago pearls, cooked
Instructions
Coconut Milk Base
In a medium pot over medium heat, combine coconut milk, milk, and sugar.
Bring mixture to a boil and remove from heat. Set side.
Toppings
Peel taro root, purple yam, and sweet potatoes. Dice into small 1/2-inch cubes. Steam under tender and a fork or toothpick pricks through, about 10 - 15 minutes. Set aside.
In a small pot, cook sago pearls according to instructions on the package. Set aside.
Assembly
Add all the prepared toppings to the coconut milk base. Stir to combine.
When ready to serve, add the cubed grass jelly.
The dessert soup can be served hot or cold. If you want to serve the dessert soup cold, I recommend transferring the dessert soup into a container and chilling in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
Notes
The best thing about Chinese dessert soup is that you can add whatever and however much ingredients you like! Traditionally, this dessert soup just has taro cubes and sago pearls, but I like adding homemade taro and yam balls and grass jelly for additional flavour and texture.You can find the recipe for my homemade taro and yam balls here. Instead of rolling the dough into balls, I rolled out the dough with a rolling pin and stamped out the shapes with small cookie cutters. I halved the recipe for this dessert soup. If you have any leftover uncooked taro and yam balls, they can be frozen for later use.It is important that you cook all the toppings separately, and not in the coconut milk mixture. Each topping has its own cook time and tends to release a lot of starch when cooking. If toppings are cooked in the coconut milk base, it will make the coconut milk very thick and sticky.