Ingredients
Milk Tea:
1.5L Milk
4 bags of Black tea
50g Light brown sugar
Ice Cubes
Tapioca Pearls:
65ml Water
45g Brown sugar (or muscovado sugar)
110g Tapioca starch (plus more for dusting)
Braising Syrup:
240ml Water
½ cup Brown sugar (or muscovado sugar)
Method
-
- Milk tea:
- Add the milk, tea bags, and light brown sugar into a pot, and heat it up until the milk starts to steam.
- Let the tea bags steep in the hot milk for 15-20 minutes before taking them out.
- When the milk tea is cool enough, transfer it into a jug or bottle, and keep it in the refrigerator until it’s cold.
- Tapioca pearls:
- Sift the tapioca starch and make sure no large lumps remain.
- Pour the water and brown sugar into a small pot or saucepan, and bring it to a boil.
- Stir and make sure all the sugar has melted, turn down the heat to low, and then pour the tapioca starch into the pot all at once.
- Stir the pot until everything is evenly mixed and a sticky brown dough forms.
- Cook this dough over very low heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent the bottom from burning.
- Scrape the dough out onto a clean work surface, and split it into two or three roughly equal portions. Take one of the dough portions, and cover the rest with a cloth or kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out.
- Then, roll out the piece you have into a long string, roughly ¼-inch thick. Cut the string into ¼-inch pieces.
- Roll each little piece of dough in between the palms of your hands and shape it into little spherical balls.
- After you roll each ball, dust it in some tapioca starch to prevent it from sticking. Repeat until you’ve rolled out all the dough.
- Cooking the pearls:
- Ready a large pot of water, and bring it to a boil. Add in the tapioca pearls, and keep the water on a rolling boil for 20 minutes until the pearls are cooked through.
- Stir hard in the beginning to prevent the pearls from sticking, but once they start to float, you only need to stir the pot once every few minutes.
- Once the pearls are cooked, transfer them into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process and firm up slightly.
- Braising the pearls:
- To make the braising syrup, add the water and brown sugar in a small pot, and bring to a boil.
- Add in the chilled tapioca pearls, and turn the heat down to a slow simmer.
- Let the pearls braise for 20-25 minutes, until the braising liquid turns thick and syrupy. Keep it warm after it’s done cooking.
- Serving:
- To serve, tilt the glass or cup at a 45° angle, and place the tapioca pearls close to the lip of the glass, letting them slide down to the base.
- Repeat this on all sides to get a trippy, tiger stripe-like ripple effect, then add the ice cubes and milk tea.
- Milk tea:
Recipe courtesy of Jun & Tonic