Boba, a topping commonly found in drinks such as milk tea and smoothies, originated from Taiwan in the 80’s and slowly became more popular in countries such as Japan and China, according to National Geographic.
Ingredients:
~ 5 cups of water
~ Tapioca starch
~ 4 tablespoons of brown sugar
~ 2 teaspoons of brown food coloring (optional)
Supplies
~ Small pot
~ Cutting board
~ Two tablespoons
~ Steel solid spatula
Instructions
- Place two cups of water, brown food coloring and two tablespoons of brown sugar into a pot and heat on the highest stove setting.
- Place two tablespoons of tapioca starch in the water.
- Stir with a spatula until thick.
- Pour four more tablespoons of tapioca starch.
- Turn off the heat right after you place the tablespoons, then stir the mixture until it thickens. You want a doughy texture.
- Apply two teaspoons of tapioca starch to the cutting board. The starch should be on the cutting board for the next step.
- Place the dough onto a cutting board. Knead the dough until it is firm.
- After the dough is kneaded, flatten the dough evenly with a rolling pin. There shouldn’t be any lumps.
- Cut the dough into little chunks (about 1cm x 1cm) and roll each piece into a ball.
- Put three cups of water and two tablespoons of brown sugar into a pot and set the stove setting to the highest.
- Place the balls into the pot and boil for thirty minutes.
- After boiling, the balls should have a shiny, honey-like consistency. Strain the water and place the balls into a drink of your choice!
Review
I got this recipe from Ms. Shi and Mr. Hi’s website. Noticing that the instructions only required three ingredients, I knew I had to give it a try.
During my initial experience of making this recipe, I had some difficulty with two factors: keeping track of measurements for each ingredient and working alone. During the first half of the process, I added too much water and not enough powder. Consequently, the dough ended up being very sticky, and rolling it into tiny balls became frustrating. It was also hard to clean the excess dough off the utensils. I strongly advise making sure that the measurements are correct before kneading the dough.
This recipe is best when working with a partner. When working alone, you need to consider more things, such as the measurements for each ingredient and which tools you need to use for each step.
If you work with someone, I recommend that one checks the measurements and the recipe’s steps while the other does the tasks required. That way, the workload would be evenly split, and there wouldn’t be as much stress. Also, an additional set of hands makes the process more efficient while being a memorable experience at the same time.
Despite these challenges, this recipe is quite beginner-friendly as you do not need many ingredients and there are only twelve steps. However, you need a lot of patience while making this recipe.
The total cost of the ingredients for this recipe was $16.88, excluding tax. The ingredients I bought are the tapioca starch from 52USA, a 24-ounce organic light brown sugar pack, and buckeye brown food coloring from Chefmaster.
Although it may seem like a lot, each ingredient came in large quantities. Something that surprised me before recreating this recipe is how there’s not many ingredients you need to buy—some of the ingredients can already be found in your kitchen.
The boba pearls are best when paired with a drink, but when eaten by itself, its taste is sweet yet not overwhelming. The texture of the pearls is very soft and silky and the pearls’ appearance is jelly-like, just like the tapioca pearls you’d find in a bubble tea cafe. The taste of the pearls depends on the tenth step; if you add too much sugar, it will be too sweet, while if you add not enough sugar, the pearls will taste bland and have a watery consistency.