When I was young, there weren’t many snacks like there are now; just having a string of coconut balls was enough to make me happy, right? Today, let’s cook with sister Thu Xuan and TasteVN to reminisce about childhood and showcase our skills by making coconut balls to treat the family!
1. Coconut Balls
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Preparation
20 minutes
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Cooking
30 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Coconut Balls Serves 4
Ripe coconut 1 fruit Tapioca flour 500 gr
How to choose good quality coconuts
- For coconut balls, you should prioritize choosing ripe coconuts with thick and fatty flesh, as they will taste better!
- To choose delicious and fatty ripe coconuts, first choose those that are large, with a dark brown shell, and the flesh inside should be about 2/3 of your finger length and have a cloudy white color.
- Avoid choosing coconuts that are sprouting because the flesh of these coconuts will have a bland taste and be less fatty.
How to Make Coconut Cake
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Prepare the ingredients
First, use a knife to cut the coconut in half and discard the coconut water (you can use the coconut water to make other dishes or drink it directly).
Use a coconut grater to grate the coconut into fine strands, or you can also grate it finely as you like!
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Mix the dough
Put 500g of tapioca starch into a bowl and gradually add 100ml of boiling water, then use a chopsticks to mix well. When the dough cools down a bit, use your hands to knead until the dough is smooth, forming a cohesive mass that no longer sticks to the bowl.
Note:- The water used to mix the dough must be boiling; otherwise, the dough will not bind and form a mass.
- When adding water, do it gradually to avoid making the dough too wet. If the dough becomes too wet, you can add a little more starch and knead it!
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Shaping the Dough
After kneading the dough into a block, continue to break it into small pieces and shape them into flat round balls. Alternatively, you can also shape them into any desired forms!
Continue doing this until all the dough is shaped, then place them on a tray and let the dough rest for about 5 – 10 minutes.
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Boiling the Coconut Cake
Put 1 liter of water into a pot, place it on the stove, and bring to a boil over high heat. When the water boils and there are small bubbles, add all the shaped cakes to boil.
Boil the cakes for about 15 – 20 minutes until they float to the surface, are transparent in color, and feel soft when squeezed, then turn off the heat and rinse the cakes with cold water and let them drain.
Tip: While boiling the cakes, you should use chopsticks to stir them gently to prevent the cakes from sticking together and to help them cook evenly.
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Making coconut dumplings
After boiling the coconut dumplings until cooked, take them out into a bowl, add the grated coconut and mix well. Then, skewer the coconut dumplings onto sticks, and you’re done.
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Final product
Now you have completed the delicious and attractive coconut dumplings. The chewy dumplings combined with the creamy grated coconut are very appetizing.
You can enjoy the coconut dumplings with peanut salt or simply with sugar for added deliciousness!
2. Coconut dumplings with peanut salt
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Preparation
20 minutes
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Cooking
30 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Salted Sesame Cake For 2 people
Tapioca flour 180 gr Glutinous rice flour 60 gr Roasted sesame 1 tablespoon Peanuts 2 tablespoons Sugar 3 tablespoons Salt 1/2 tablespoon Beetroot juice 3 tablespoons Pandan leaf juice 3 tablespoons Mature coconut 1/2 fruit
How to extract green color from pandan leaves
- 1 bunch of pandan leaves, cut into small pieces and put into a blender with 200 ml of water.
- Blend until the pandan leaves are finely crushed, then strain through a sieve to extract the green juice from the pandan leaves.
How to extract red and orange color from beetroot and carrots
Cut the beetroot into small pieces and put it into a juicer to extract the juice, or blend it with water in a 1:1 ratio (100g beetroot : 100g water) and then strain through a sieve to extract the red juice.
Ingredient Image
How to make Salted Sesame Cake
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Prepare the ingredients
First, for the coconut, use a tool to grate it into small, edible strands (at this step, you can directly buy grated coconut at the market).
Prepare the pandan leaf juice and beetroot juice according to the instructions above!
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Dough Kneading
You prepare a bowl for 180 grams of tapioca flour, 60 grams of glutinous rice flour, and gradually add 200 ml of boiling water to mix evenly. Use your hands to knead until the dough no longer sticks to your hands.
After kneading, divide the dough into 3 equal parts. One part, add 3 tablespoons of pandan leaves to create a green color, one part with 3 tablespoons of beetroot juice for a red color, and leave the remaining part in its original cloudy white color.
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Shaping the Dough
After the dough has been divided into three and colored, continue to divide it into smaller portions and shape them into round balls like water dumplings (at this stage, you can customize the shape according to your preference!).
Once shaped, place the dough on a tray and let it rest for about 5 – 10 minutes.
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Boil bánh hòn
Prepare 1 pot to boil 1 liter of water on the stove at high heat. Wait until you see small bubbles forming in the water, then add all the flour to boil.
The boiling time is from 15 to 20 minutes, until you see the bánh floating to the surface of the water and becoming transparent, then take them out and rinse them with cold water to firm up the dough.
You should use chopsticks to stir the bánh while boiling to prevent them from sticking together!
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Make sesame salt
Making sesame salt to accompany bánh hòn is very simple, you just need to combine the following ingredients: 1 tablespoon of roasted sesame, 2 tablespoons of peanuts, 3 tablespoons of sugar, and 1/2 tablespoon of salt into a mortar and grind them until fine to have a bowl of savory and nutty salt to enjoy with bánh hòn, which is extremely appealing.
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Rolling the cake in grated coconut
After the cake is cooked, you skewer the cake onto a stick, with each stick having 3 colors, then proceed to roll the cake in the prepared grated coconut to coat the cake with an even layer of coconut.
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Final product
With these very simple steps, you have completed the delicious cake served with sesame salt. The cake is crispy and chewy combined with the rich grated coconut, paired with the salty and nutty taste of sesame salt, which is very appealing.
This is a childhood cake for many people and is also very easy to make, so go ahead and try it!
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Coconut balls are not only delicious but also very easy to make, right? You should save the recipe and get into the kitchen to show off your skills and invite your family to enjoy, or add it to your child’s snack menu. Wishing you success in making this dish!
*Refer to more delicious recipes on the tiktok page Cooking with TasteVN!
