Tapioca Balls in Mung Bean Soup — My Mom's Recipe, Used for Over Ten Years
By Vivian
Why You'll Love It
What's worst about summer?
Those muggy afternoons when you're desperately thirsty and the house has nothing but plain water.
Milk tea and soda hit the spot, but the sugar and calories leave you feeling guilty.
Stop overthinking it. Here's the tapioca soup my mom has made for over ten years!
The texture is springy, clean, and chewy — better than boba. Add mung beans and honey water, and iced cold it's pure satisfaction.
A bowl on a hot day and you can't stop. Genuinely addictive.
Ingredients
| Ingredients | |
|---|---|
| ¾ cup + 2 tsp (100 g) tapioca starch | ⅓ cup + 1 tsp (85 ml) sugar syrup (sugar + water) |
| mung beans, as needed | rock sugar, to taste |
| honey water, to taste | dry flour, for dusting |
Ingredient Notes
- Use tapioca starch, not tapioca flour — it gives a glossier, chewier result.
- Bring the syrup to a full rolling boil before pouring; if it isn't hot enough, the dough won't come together.
- Choose bright green mung beans; they break open more easily when cooked.
- Add the honey water at the end — cooking it drives off the aroma.
- For extra cold, chill the bowl and the ice water ahead of time.
Instructions
-
1
Soak the mung beans in water for several hours, until they just start to split.
Put them in a pot with water and rock sugar, bring to a boil over high heat, then drop to low and cook until soft. Let it cool.
-
2
Put the sugar and water in a pot and bring it to a boil over high heat so the sugar dissolves completely.
Pour the boiling syrup straight onto the tapioca starch, stirring as you go, so the starch scalds through and turns shaggy.
-
3
It's shaggy at first; once it cools a little, put on disposable gloves and knead it into a smooth dough.
Note: the syrup must be at a full boil before you pour — scalding is what gives these their chewy bite.
-
4
Roll the dough into a log and cut into even small pieces with a knife, or roll them into balls, whatever shape you like.
Dust with a little dry flour to stop them sticking, and they're done.
-
5
Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the pieces.
Once they all float, cook 1 more minute to make sure they're done through. Take them out and plunge into ice water — that's what makes them springy.
-
6
Put the cooked balls in a bowl, add the mung beans, pour in honey water, and stir.
Chill it in the fridge first if you want it colder — the perfect summer cooler.
-
7
Chewy, springy balls with soft mung beans, drizzled with sweet honey water. One cold bowl and all of summer's heat disperses.
And there are no additives in it — healthy and worry-free.
-
8
Quick tip: make a big batch. Dust the extras with flour to stop them sticking, bag them, and freeze. Boil them whenever you want. Besides mung beans, they also go with taro balls, red beans, coconut milk, or tapioca pearl soup — mix it up.
Recipe Notes
Tapioca Balls in Mung Bean Soup
Tapioca balls in mung bean soup: tapioca starch scalded into a dough, rolled into short pieces, boiled and plunged into ice water, served with mung beans and honey water. Chewy, springy, and cooling in summer.
Time Needed
Plus several hours soaking the beans.
Prep Ahead
- Soak the mung beans several hours, until they just start to split — they cook soft much more easily.
- Chill it a while before eating if you like it cold.
- 【Yield】¾ cup + 2 tsp (100 g) tapioca starch makes 2–3 bowls.
- 【Key ratios】Tapioca starch to boiling syrup ≈ 100:85; the syrup must be at a rolling boil when poured in.
- 【Heat】Drop into boiling water, cook 1 minute after they float, then into ice water.
- 【Mung beans】Soak several hours, then simmer over low heat until soft and split.
- 【Storage & reheating】Dust raw pieces and freeze 1 month; eat cooked ones the same day.
- 【Common problems】Dough falling apart means the syrup wasn't hot enough. Firm results mean under-boiled or no ice bath.
Nutrition (per 100 g, estimated)
| Calories | about 111 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | about 1 g |
| Fat | about 0.3 g |
| Carbohydrates | about 26 g |
| of which sugars | about 13 g |
| Fiber | about 1.2 g |
| Sodium | about 15 mg |
Estimated from the ingredient amounts, not lab tested. One bowl is about 10½ oz (300 g), roughly 333 kcal, calculated at 4 / 9 / 4 kcal per g of protein / fat / carbs.