Biji Salak

I'm so glad whatever attacked me earlier this week is finally out of my system. So I was ready for another cooking adventure. This time, I made "biji salak", an Indonesian dessert.

"Biji salak" consist of sweet potato balls swimming in an infusion of sweet palm sugar syrup and rich coconut milk. The name "biji salak" literally means the "seed" of the salak fruit. It is because the shape of the sweet potato balls resembles it.

This was my first time making biji salak. The tricky part was rolling the sweet potatoes because it was a bit sticky but after rolling 10 or so I got the hang of it. Overall I think they turned out pretty good.

Ingredients

3-4 medium size sweet potatoes
1/2 C. tapioca starch, plus more for dusting
1/2 C. palm sugar
4 C. water
2 C. coconut milk
1 t. salt

Cooking instruction:

1. Peel sweet potatoes and steam until soft.

2. In a large bowl, mash the sweet potatoes while they're still hot and let cool. Then mix in tapioca starch.

3. In a large pot, bring water to a boil.

4. Dust your hands with some tapioca starch then roll the sweet potato dough into small balls then shape like "biji salak." Drop them into the boiling water. When they float to the top, take them out and set aside.

5. Melt palm sugar with 4 cups of water. Add in the "biji salak."

6. In a separate pot, heat coconut milk and 1 t. salt.

7. Serve warm "biji salak" with a few tablespoons of coconut milk.