Sweet Soups & DrinksDessert

Rose & Fermented Rice Bubbles — You Have to Try This One!!

Name: Rose & Fermented Rice Bubbles
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 2 bowls
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: ¾ cup + 2 tsp (100 g) tapioca starch; dried tapioca starch, for dusting; brown sugar, to taste; fresh ginger, sliced; edible dried rose petals, to taste; goji berries, to taste; fermented rice wine, to taste; cooled boiled water, for rinsing

2026-09-08

By Vivian

I was shocked — this is so good. You have to try this one!!

Why You'll Love It

The worst part of that time of the month is the cravings — you want something sweet but don't dare eat just anything. A friend shared this, and I made a bowl. It's pink and beautiful, and one sip shocked me: chewy and slippery, and chewing fills your mouth with rose. Pretty and delicious!!

The point is — the method and ingredients are simple, no need to buy anything weird. Tapioca starch is probably in your cupboard: boil water, knead, roll little balls, and boil them. Far easier than you'd think.

While it cooks the house smells of brown sugar and rose, and adding the fermented rice at the end makes a hot bowl that warms you from your stomach inward. Ridiculously pretty, sweet without any heaviness, and you feel better after eating it.

Ingredients

Ingredients
¾ cup + 2 tsp (100 g) tapioca starch	dried tapioca starch, for dusting
brown sugar, to taste	fresh ginger, sliced
edible dried rose petals, to taste	goji berries, to taste
fermented rice wine, to taste	cooled boiled water, for rinsing

Ingredient Notes

Tapioca starch must be scalded with water at a full boil — warm water won't come together.
Use edible dried rose petals, not decorative roses.
Add the rice wine after turning off the heat; boiling it turns the soup sour and drives off the aroma.
Use block brown sugar — more aroma than granulated brown sugar.
Simmer the ginger 5 minutes; longer and it gets hot and harsh.

Instructions

1

Put the tapioca starch in a bowl and add a handful of edible rose petals.
2

Add water at a full boil, about ⅓ cup (80–90 ml), and stir fast with chopsticks as you pour, until shaggy.
Don't pour all the water at once — hold back about 4 tsp (20 ml) and add it later if needed. Tapioca drinks a lot of water: too little can be fixed, too much can't.
3

Once it's shaggy, put on disposable gloves and knead it into a dough, until smooth and not sticky. Too wet, dust with a little dry starch; too dry, add a few drops of hot water.
4

Dust the board with dry starch, roll the dough into a log, cut into small pieces, and roll each into a ball.
Toss the finished balls in a plate of dry starch so each one is coated — then they won't stick while they wait.
5

Bring water to a full boil, add the balls, and stir so they don't stick to the bottom.
Once they float, cook 8–10 minutes more, until the color goes from white to translucent with a hint of light brown. That means they're done.
6

Take them straight out and rinse in cooled boiled water. Don't skip this — the cold shock is what makes them chewy and clean-tasting, instead of going soft.
7

In a pot, bring water to a boil with the ginger and goji. Add the brown sugar and stir until dissolved, turn off the heat, then add the balls and rice wine and stir a couple of times.
(Add the rice wine only after turning off the heat — boiling drives off the aroma and sours the soup.) Save a spoonful to scatter on top if you like; it looks nicer.
8

So pretty! Pink little balls, one by one, chewy when you bite them, your mouth full of rose. It doesn't feel like drinking a sweet soup — more like holding a flower in your mouth.
9

The base is the warmth of brown sugar and ginger, with the rice wine finishing it — gently sweet, not cloying at all.
Pink and white layered, almost too pretty; you can't stop taking photos.
Make a big batch of the balls at once; keep the raw ones frozen and boil them straight from frozen. The base also works with coconut milk, milk, yogurt, or milk tea.

Recipe Notes