Taiwanese QQ balls are the perfect dessert in every way. They are chewy, lightly sweetened and versatile. You can have the QQ balls hot with a ginger soup for health or you can have them cold on shaved ice as a dessert!
Experiment with flavours
Taiwanese QQ balls can also be customized by adding cocoa powder or matcha powder to add colour and flavour to them. If you choose to add a flavouring, make sure that you are making the taro version because the colour and flavour is milder than the sweet potato version.
If you aren’t able to eat all your QQ balls at once because you make more than one batch at a time, you can freeze them and keep them in the freezer for up to a month! They will take longer to cook this way but they are just as delicious!
QQ ball recipe (serves 4)
- 250 g peeled taro or sweet potato
- 100g sweet potato starch
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- water as needed for adjusting
Dessert soup
- 1 cup sweet potato cubed
- 4 slices of ginger
- 1 L water
- 1 piece of yellow sugar
QQ ball method
- Cut the sweet potatoes or taro into small cubes and then steam them until soft. Once the sweet potato or taro is steamed, mash it until smooth.
- Put the mashed sweet potato/taro into a large bowl. Add in the sweet potato starch and sugar. Mix until a dough forms. If the dough is too sticky, add more sweet potato starch, if it is too dry, add 1 teaspoon of water at a time until a dough forms.
Knead the dough for 5 minutes for the ingredients to combine. Then divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Roll each portion out into a long robe and cut the dough to desired size pieces for QQ balls. I usually cut mine at 1.5″
- Dust the prepared QQ balls with sweet potato starch to prevent them from sticking together.
- Fill a medium sized pot half way full and bring it to a boil. Gently lower the QQ balls in and allow them to cook. When the QQ balls float, add 2 tablespoons of cold water to increase the chewiness. Then turn off heat and cover the pot. Let the QQ balls sit for 5 minutes.
- In a separate pot, prepare the dessert soup by bringing 4 cups of water to a boil. Then add in the cubed sweet potatoes, sliced ginger and yellow sugar. The dessert soup is ready when the sweet potatoes are cooked through
- Strain the taro balls and add them into the dessert soup. Serve hot or chilled.
Love Taiwanese desserts? Try my recipe for Tapioca Pearls!
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