Homemade Bubble Tea Balls

Votes: 1

Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Complexity: average
Servings: 8

Nutritional value per serving:

Calories 341, total fat 0 G., saturated fats 0 G., proteins 0 G., carbohydrates 88 G., fiber 0 G., cholesterol 0 mg, sodium 15 mg, sugar 53 G.

If you love Taiwanese bubble tea and want to try making it at home, this tapioca ball recipe will come to the rescue. They're tastier than store-bought ones, made with love, by hand. So, grab your friends or kids and get started! These balls will make enough for 8 cups of homemade bubble tea. Any extra balls can be frozen for next time.

The recipes use measuring containers with the following volumes:
1 glass (st.) - 250 ml.
3/4 cup (st.) - 180 ml.
2/3 cup (st.) - 160 ml.
1/2 cup (st.) - 125 ml.
1/3 cup (st.) - 80 ml.
1/4 cup (st.) - 60 ml.
1 tablespoon (tbsp) - 15 ml.
1 teaspoon (tsp) - 5 ml.
1/5 teaspoon (tsp) - 1 ml.

Ingredients for the recipe:

2 cups tapioca starch + about 3/4 cup for sprinkling (see Note)
1 cup dark brown sugar
Special equipment: 1 large bubble tea straw, approximately 1cm in diameter.

Ingredient Substitution Suggestions

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Recipes with similar ingredients: tapioca

Cooking the dish according to the recipe:

In a small bowl, combine 1/3 cup water with 1 cup tapioca starch. The mixture may look separable, but it will become smooth in the next step.
Combine brown sugar and 2/3 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat to medium and stir in the tapioca slurry until the mixture begins to thicken, about 30 seconds.

Remove from heat and add the remaining 1 cup tapioca starch, stirring with a spatula until a rough ball of dough forms, 1 to 2 minutes.
Sprinkle a work surface with tapioca starch. Turn the dough out onto the work surface and let it cool for 3-4 minutes. Knead the dough until it's smooth, elastic to the touch, and no longer sticky, adding more starch as needed, about 7 minutes. If the dough seems too dry, wet your hands and knead with damp hands.
Divide the dough into 6 pieces and cover with a damp kitchen towel. Roll out 1 piece of dough with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 0.5 cm. Sprinkle the tip of a wide, 1 cm diameter tube with tapioca starch and use it to cut out pieces of dough, wiping the tube occasionally to prevent sticking. Gather the scraps of dough into a ball and repeat the process. Discard any scraps of dough after this step, as they will be too dry to reuse. Repeat with the remaining 5 pieces of dough.
Lightly dust a baking sheet with tapioca starch. Form the cut pieces into pea-sized balls and place them on the prepared baking sheet. If the dough seems too dry or cracks, moisten your fingers with a little water and knead it. Use the balls immediately or freeze them in a single layer for about 2 hours. Transfer to a freezer bag and store in the freezer until ready to use.

Note

Tapioca starch is sometimes referred to as tapioca flour.