Sweet Potato & Sago Dessert Soup
This classic & popular Hong Kong dessert is so easy to prepare when you crave for a simple dessert on a cold snowy night during winter time in Canada. This delicious warm sweet soup only uses a few ingredients to prepare- sweet potato, ginger, sago pearls which is optional and light brown sugar.
Ingredients
- 2-3 Medium Sweet Potatoes (cubed)
- 3-4 Slices of fresh ginger (optional)
- 5-6 Cups of water (add more if needed)
- 4 Tablespoons light brown sugar (+/- adjustable)
- 2 Fresh Screw-pine Leaves (knotted)
- 2-4 Tablespoons Sago pearls + 4 cups water (add more if needed)
Instructions
- Prepare sweet potatoes. Peel off the skin and cut sweet potatoes into cubes.
- Add cut cubed potatoes into a bowl filled with cold water until you are ready to use them.
- Prepare sago. Bring half a small pot of water or 4 cups of water to a boil.
- Add in sago and stir. Let the sago cook under medium heat for roughly 6-12 minutes or until it turns semi translucent. Stir occasionally.
- Turn off the heat and cover with a lid. Let the sago sit in the pot for 10-15 minutes.
- Remove sago from the pot. Strain with strainer and rinse the cooked sago under cold running water for at least 3 times.
- Leave the sago in the strainer. Place the strainer with the sago in a bowl of cold water. Set aside
- Prepare to cook sweet potato dessert soup. In a large or medium pot, add 6 cups of water( add more if needed), knotted screw pine leaves, ginger and bring them to a boil at high heat.
- Half way through the boiling process or when you notice some boiling bubbles, add in cubes of sweet potatoes. Continue to cook/ boil at medium high heat until sweet potatoes are soft.
- Add in sugar and stir to combine.
- Add in cooked sago pearls that we prepared earlier. Gently stir everything to combine. Adjust the sugar to your taste buds at this point.
- Cook for another 5 minutes before turning off the heat.
- Serve hot.
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Tips & Notes
- Cut sweet potatoes into cubes, chunks or anyway you want.
- Soak cut sweet potatoes in a bowl of cold water before you are ready to cook/use them is to prevent them from drying out.
- Adjust the sugar according to your taste buds. Since the sweet potato is sweet, I used less sugar in the sweet soup.
- Add more water for this dessert if needed.
- Another name for screw pine leaf is Pandanus or Pandan leaf which you can find at most Asian stores in Chinatown.
- You can use light brown sugar, brown sugar, white sugar,etc.
- Omit Sago pearls if you dislike Sago.
- Sago pearls can be found at most Asian stores in Chinatown. Sometimes they labeled it as tapioca pearls.
