Perfectly chewy, taro balls of three different flavors: Purple Yam, Mango, and Matcha Green Tea.
Most taro ball recipes use only tapioca starch, but I personally find tapioca starch rather difficult to work with. In my recipe, I'm using half tapioca starch and half glutinous rice flour, and I find that the dough is much more fail-proof and easier to work with. I also think it makes the taro balls a lot more chewy! This combination of flour also makes the balls cook a lot faster (only ~2 min) in comparison to pure tapioca starch, which I've found if you don't do it properly, the tapioca starch in the core of the ball won't cook no matter how long you let it cook. Easily replace purple yam, mango, etc. with taro, sweet potato, pumpkin, etc. You can serve it hot or cold!
*The flour mixture totaling 2 cups is an approximation. Flour mixture amounts typically vary, depending on humidity, amount of liquid in mango, yam, taro, etc., and flour brands, so if you find that your dough is too sticky, add more flour, and add more water if dough is too dry/crumbly. In general, you want a soft, smooth, yet flexible dough at the end, kind of like play-dough.
*The flour mixture is the core of the recipe. The general idea is to slowly mix it into whatever "flavor" (e.g. taro, purple yam, pumpkin, mango, etc.) you want to use until the dough is able to be kneaded into a dough-like consistency. If the ingredient is more liquidy like mango, you'll probably end up using less flour. For powders (e.g. matcha), you start with the powder and flour mixture before adding water until a dough is formed.
If you don't need to use all of the balls, you can lay the uncooked balls on a tray/plate and freeze them before transferring to a ziplock bag/tupperware etc.
Ingredients:
Flour Mixture:
1 Cup Glutinous Rice Flour
1 Cup Tapioca Starch
1 Mango (Mango Balls)
1 Purple Yam (Purple Yam Balls)
2 Tbsp Matcha Powder (Matcha Green Tea Balls)
1 1/2 Cups Water (Matcha Green Tea Balls)
Directions:
MATCHA BALLS:
1) MATCHA GREEN TEA: Combine matcha powder and flour mixture, adding water slowly as necessary to make the dough into a dough-like consistency. If you think you'll find matcha too bitter, add 1 tbsp of sugar (white or brown).
2) If you find that your dough is too sticky, add more flour. Add more water if dough is too dry/crumbly.
MANGO/PURPLE YAM BALLS
1) MANGO: Cut mango into chunks, and puree into a smooth consistency.
1) PURPLE YAM: Cut purple yam into chunks, steam, and puree into a smooth consistency.
2) Mix in the flour mixture, a little at a time.
ALL:
3) Divide dough into sections, rolling them into snakes.
4) Cut into about 1/2" pieces, dusting with flour as necessary to prevent sticking.
5) When water is boiling, add the balls. Stir continuously. The balls cook fairly fast, in about 1-2 min. When the balls are translucent and floating, they're done.
6) Immediately dump into ice water before draining and serving.