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Bubur cha cha
Warm coconut sweet potato pudding
Warm coconut-milk pudding with sweet potato, taro and sago pearls
Bubur cha cha is a Nyonya (Peranakan) dessert from Penang and Melaka, cooked in big pots for Chap Goh Meh, the fifteenth night of Chinese New Year, and eaten all year as a sweet soup after dinner or a mid-afternoon snack. Cubes of orange and purple sweet potato and taro float in pandan-scented coconut milk with tiny, glassy sago pearls; the colours are part of the charm. It's soothing, gently sweet and comforting, warm on a rainy evening or cold from the fridge in the heat. Chef's tip: a small pinch of salt in the coconut milk lifts the sweetness and stops it tasting flat.
- Total time
- 40 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
- 9 oz orange sweet potatopeeled, 1.5 cm cubes
- 7 oz purple sweet potatopeeled, 1.5 cm cubes; or more orange sweet potato
- 9 oz taropeeled, 1.5 cm cubes; wear gloves, it can itch
- 1 ⅜ oz small sago pearls
- 3 cups water
- 3 pandan leavesknotted; or 2 drops pandan extract, or leave out
- 3 ⅛ oz sugaror half palm sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ¾ cups coconut milk
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Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Steam 9 oz taro, 9 oz orange sweet potato and 7 oz purple sweet potato in separate piles (or on separate plates) over boiling water on a medium-high heat for 12–15 minutes, until a skewer slides in easily but the cubes still hold their corners. Cooking everything together in the pot is the usual mistake: the taro turns to mush and the purple bleeds into everything.
15 minStep 2: Meanwhile bring a small pan of water to a rolling boil and pour in 1 ⅜ oz small sago pearls, stirring so it doesn't clump. Boil for 8–10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the pearls are translucent with just a tiny white dot in the middle. Turn off the heat, cover for 5 minutes, then rinse in a sieve under cold water.
15 minStep 3: Bring 3 cups water to the boil with 3 pandan leaves, 3 ⅛ oz sugar and ½ tsp salt and simmer over a medium heat for 5 minutes, until the sugar dissolves and the water smells of pandan.
5 minStep 4: Turn the heat to low, pour in 1 ¾ cups coconut milk and heat until it steams, without letting it boil, so it stays smooth. Take out the pandan.
3 minStep 5: Add the steamed cubes and sago and warm through for 2 minutes. Serve warm, or chill for a few hours and serve cold.
2 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 250 kcal
- Protein
- 2 g
- Carbs
- 40 g
- Fat
- 10 g
- Fibre
- 4 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does bubur cha cha take?
- About 40 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of orange sweet potato?
- Sweet potato, same weight (sweeter, cooks a little faster).
- What can I use instead of purple sweet potato?
- Sweet potato, same weight (sweeter, cooks a little faster).
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