Biji Salak: Sweet Potato & Palm Sugar Dessert (Vegan)
Biji salak is a warm dessert soup that’s popular during Ramadan, but eaten throughout the year. It’s made of sweet potato balls soaked in palm sugar syrup, drizzled with rich coconut milk sauce.
- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- 1 hr 20 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- For the sweet potato balls: 500 gr sweet potatoes
- 130 gr tapioca starch
- ¼ tsp salt
- For the palm sugar soup: 200 gr palm sugar
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 2 pandan leaves
- Pinch of salt
- 1 lt water
- 20 gr tapioca starch
- For the coconut milk sauce: 400 ml coconut milk
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 1 pandan leaf
- 1 tsp tapioca starch
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
- 1
: Steam the sweet potatoes with the skin until done, around 20 minutes.
- 2
Peel the skin and mash the sweet potatoes.
- 3
Add the salt.
- 4
Add the tapioca starch gradually while kneading, and continue kneading until the dough is not sticky.
- 5
Form into small 2 cm balls.
- 6
Set the balls aside while waiting for the sugar soup to be ready.
- 7
: Put the water, palm sugar, sugar, salt and pandan leaves in a medium-sized pot.
- 8
Cook until the sugar is dissolved and the aroma from the pandan leaves permeates the soup, around 30 minutes.
- 9
When the syrup is done, sieve the mixture in a clean pot and discard the pandan leaves.
- 10
Put back on the stove and add the sweet potato balls.
- 11
Cook for around 15 minutes.
- 12
Mix the tapioca starch with 3 tbsp of room temperature water and gradually pour into the soup.
- 13
Stir the soup gently until it thickens, around 5 minutes.
- 14
Turn off the heat.
- 15
: Put coconut milk, salt and pandan leaves in a small saucepan.
- 16
Cook over medium low heat.
- 17
Mix the tapioca starch with the 2 tbsp of room temperature water.
- 18
Slowly pour the tapioca starch into the coconut sauce until it thickens.
- 19
Stir regularly until the sauce is done, around 10 minutes.
- 20
Remove the pandan leaves.
- 21
Serve biji salak in individual dessert bowls, drizzling the coconut milk sauce on each bowl.