Bubur Cha Cha (Coconut milk dessert)

A delicious and simple dessert, traditionally made of sweet potatoes and coconut milk. Bubur Cha Cha is one of our favorite desserts. The aromatic coconut milk dessert can be enjoyed cold or warm 🥥😋

Growing up someone would always make this for our holiday family potlucks and we loved it. After going vegan, we were so happy to learn that the traditional recipe for Bubur Cha Cha is vegan! Most people assume that when you adopt a vegan lifestyle you have to give up all of your favorite foods, but this is beyond the truth. Adopting a vegan lifestyle helped us realize how many of our favorite southeast asian and asian desserts are vegan. This allowed us to appreciate these dishes more.

Bubur Cha Cha is a very simple dessert that doesn't take much time or effort to create. It's also a forgiving dessert and is hard to get wrong.

what do you need?

• Canned coconut milk. We recommend getting coconut milk that doesn't contain lots of additives. Make sure to use canned coconut milk, not carton coconut milk.

• Sweet potato, taro, and others. You can get any type of root/squash you want, but we like using a mix of sweet potatoes (purple, white, and orange), taro, and Japanese pumpkin.

• Pandan leaves. This adds an amazing flavor to the dessert and is a staple ingredient in Southeast Asian desserts. It is an optional ingredient, since pandan is not an available ingredient to all.

• Maple syrup. Or any sweetener of choice.

• Tapioca pearls. This is found in traditional Bubur Cha Cha, but is optional. We made our own sweet potato and taro tapioca by steaming the potatoes and combining it with tapioca flour.

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Bubur Cha Cha (Coconut milk dessert)

Serving Size: 4 - 6 bowls

Prep Time: 25 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Total Time: 45 mins

Description

A delicious and simple dessert, traditionally made of sweet potatoes and coconut milk. Bubur Cha Cha is one of our favorite desserts. The aromatic coconut milk dessert can be enjoyed cold or warm 🥥😋

Ingredients:

2 pandan leaves (optional)

1 cup (250 ml) canned coconut milk

2 cups water

1/2 cup maple syrup (or sweetener of choice)

1/4 tsp salt

⅔ cup (100g) orange sweet potatoes

⅔ cup (100g) purple sweet potatoes

⅔ cup (100g) yellow sweet potatoes

⅔ cup (100g) Japanese pumpkin

1⅓ cup (200g) taro

80 grams tapioca pearls

Instructions:

1. Peel and cut the potatoes, pumpkin, and taro into bite size pieces. If you want a thinner coconut soup, cook the potatoes, pumpkin, and taro in advanced by steaming over high heat for 10 mins (till fork-tender but not mushy)

2. Fill a small pot ¾th of the way with water and bring to a boil. Add the tapioca pearls and bring the water to a simmer. Stir the pot occasionally to prevent the pearls from clumping. Once cooked drain and run through with cold water. (If you're using traditional tapioca pearls they will be translucent went cooked)

3. In a large pot combine 2 cups of water, maple syrup, and two pandan leaves. Stir and bring the mixture to a boil, then remove the pandan leaves.

4. Bring the water to simmer and pour in the coconut milk. Add in the root vegetables and tapioca pearls and simmer. Avoid boiling the mixture or else the coconut milk will curdle. If you didn't cook the root vegetables in advance, simmer till they are cooked then turn off the heat.

5. Serve and enjoy!*

Note:

*The dessert can be stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days. You can enjoy the dessert cold or warm.