Destination
Taipei
The story
Yù yuán (taro balls) are Taiwan's most iconic mountain dessert and the signature dish of the Jiufen mountain town (a former gold-mining village on Taiwan's northeast coast, now a tourist destination): small hand-rolled balls of taro-and-tapioca dough, boiled fresh in a pot at the counter, then piled into a bowl with red beans, mung beans, sweetened peanuts, tapioca pearls and a scoop of shaved ice, topped with a drizzle of brown sugar syrup and evaporated milk. Purple taro balls and orange sweet-potato balls are the two most-classical varieties; some shops also do green matcha, red beetroot or white plain versions. Jiufen's Ah Gan Yi Yù Yuán and Grandma's Yù Yuán are the two most-visited shops, and every visitor to the mountain town leaves with a bag.
Method
Steam the cubed taro in a bamboo basket 20 to 25 minutes until fork-tender. Mash smooth with a potato masher while still hot.
Add sugar, salt and half the tapioca flour to the hot mashed taro. Mix. Add hot water and the remaining flour gradually, kneading with your hands (careful — hot at first) until you have a smooth, slightly-elastic dough that doesn't stick to your hands. Adjust with more flour if sticky or more water if crumbly.
Divide the dough into 4 portions. Roll each portion into a long rope about 1cm thick on a floured surface. Cut each rope into 1cm pieces (small nuggets). Toss with a dusting of extra tapioca flour to prevent sticking.
Repeat the process with sweet potato: steam, mash, knead with flour and water, roll and cut into 1cm pieces.
Warm red beans and mung beans in small pans with a splash of their liquid. Cook peanuts in the brown-sugar-water syrup 5 minutes. Cook tapioca pearls in boiling water 15 minutes until translucent.
Combine brown sugar, water, pandan leaf and ginger (for hot version) in a small saucepan. Simmer 8 minutes until slightly thickened. Cool for cold version; keep warm for hot version.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the taro balls in batches (do not crowd). Cook 4 to 5 minutes — the balls will sink at first, then float and turn glossy. Lift out with a slotted spoon and immediately transfer to a bowl of cold water (for cold version) or a bowl of the warm syrup (for hot version).
For cold version: pile shaved ice in the bottom of each bowl. Add scoops of red beans, mung beans, peanuts, tapioca pearls, cooked taro balls and sweet potato balls. Drizzle with the cold brown sugar syrup and evaporated milk. For hot version: pour warm ginger-brown-sugar syrup into each bowl, add all the toppings and taro balls. Serve immediately.
Tips
- Fresh taro, not powder. This is essential. Fresh taro root gives you the specific rooty flavour and dry-starchy texture that makes yù yuán work. Frozen taro is a passable substitute; taro powder is not.
- Knead hot. The dough must be kneaded while the mashed taro is still hot for the flour to bind properly. Cold mashed taro gives you crumbly, unworkable dough.
- Tapioca + sweet potato flour is the classical Jiufen blend. Just tapioca gives you a gummier texture; the sweet potato flour softens it. Substitute all-tapioca if you can't find sweet potato flour.
- 1cm pieces are the classical Jiufen size. Larger pieces take longer to cook and get chewy in the wrong way. Smaller pieces cook too fast and go soft. 1cm is the target.
- Freeze raw balls. Uncooked taro balls freeze beautifully on a tray then transferred to a bag. Boil straight from frozen for 6 minutes. Every Jiufen dessert shop maintains a freezer stash.
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