Hello Foodies!
SAKU SAI MOO! Pork stuffed tapioca pearls. Another delicious treat and dish to make. It’s sweet, savory, and oh so very good. Saku sai moo (Thai) or also know as Sakoo yat sai in Laos is a sweet pork, radish, & peanut filling covered with tapioca pearls. You can typically find this appetizer being made during special occasions or sometimes if you’re lucky, it can be found at your local Thai/Lao grocery store/restaurant. In Thailand, you can find street vendors selling these with an array of different colors. It’s so beautiful to see and very addicting to eat. It can be eaten by itself or as a lettuce wrap with fresh cilantro and peppers. This dish is pretty easy but can be very time consuming. But so worth it. Today, I’ll show you the pork filling version and I’m also going to be coloring some of the tapioca pearls with the butterfly pea flower and red dragon fruit powder for a fun experiment. It’s going to be fun! So let’s get cooking. 🙂
Have you made these before? What are some of your tricks and tips to make these delicious pork tapioca balls?
Main Ingredients
Ingredients for the filling
Tapioca pearls
Soak it in water to bloom. Drain well for 20 minutes for easier use
Sweetened radish gives the filling a sweet and crunchy texture.
Make sure to wash and rinse well. Sweetened radish is very salty and sweet. Rinsing will help reduce the amount of salt and sugar. Cut into smaller pieces when using since they usually come in long strips.
Make your own garlic oil. Use the fried garlic to garnish and the garlic oil to coat the balls after cooking to prevent sticking.
Cooking the filling
The filling needs to be caramelized and chilled completely in order to form the balls.
Forming
You can also color the tapioca pearls if you want. It quite fun! 🙂 Same process, just add coloring of your choice in with water and pour over the tapioca pearls. Allow it to set for 5 minutes and then drain for 30 minutes before using. Here, I used the blue butterfly pea flower powder for the blue and the pink dragon fruit (pitaya) powder for the pink. It’s very beautiful. 😉
All filled and rolled out. Ready to cook.
Boil or steam them. I like to boil them for a more rounder shape.
Once they come to the top and they are nice and translucent, they are done
Coat them in garlic oil and garnish with fried garlic before plating. And enjoy!
The colored ones were just an experiment, but they came out very beautiful!:)
Serve with lettuce, cilantro, and chili peppers. Wrap, eat, and say MMMMMM
Happy Cooking!
-CHawjCreations
Ingredients
- ---FILLING---
- 1 lb ground pork (or meat of your choice)
- 1/2 cup crushed roasted peanuts (2.5oz)
- 2 tablespoons cilantro stems (chopped)
- 6-8 cloves garlic
- ½ cup shallots (~2 shallots)
- 4 oz ounces Asian sweet radish (2/3 cup) [rinse and chopped]
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- ½ tsp salt
- 8 ounces palm sugar (crushed)
- 1 tbsp oil
- ---TAPIOCA PEARLS---
- 1 bag tapioca balls (14oz or 16oz bag works)
- 3 cups room temp water
- ---GARLIC OIL---
- ¼ cup minced garlic
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ---TOPPINGS/GARNISH---
- Garlic oil (as needed)
- Crispy Garlic (topping)
- Chili peppers (fresh or dried)
- Lettuce leaf for wrapping
- Cilantro
- ---COLORING---
- Butterfly pea flower powder
- Pitaya powder
Instructions
PORK FILLING
- In a food processor, add in the garlic cloves, chopped shallots, and cilantro stems. Blitz until it becomes a good fine minced/paste.
- In a pan, add in 1 tbsp of oil and the minced garlic, shallots, and cilantro stems. Saute for 1-2 minutes just to sweat it. Then add in the ground pork, sweetened radish, and 1/2 tsp of salt. Saute until the pink color is just about faded away. Remove the meat and herbs onto a plate. Set aside.
- In the same pan, add in the crushed palm sugar. On medium heat, melt the palm sugar and let it lightly caramelized. Then add in the meat mixture and black/white pepper. Saute and mix well to incorporate the caramelized sugar in with the meat (around 3-5 minutes). After a few minutes the meat mixture should be thick from the palm sugar caramelization. Then add in the fish sauce. Stir to incorporate the fish sauce. Then turn off heat. Pour meat mixture onto a plate, cover it with plastic wrap and store in the fridge to let it cool completely before forming into little balls. If you do not cool it completely, forming the balls will not work.
- After the meat mixture has cooled completely, scoop out about 1 tsp worth and form it into a balls. Continue until all the meat mixture is used up. Store in the fridge to chill while you do the tapioca pearls.
GARLIC OIL
- In a pan, add in 1/2 cup of vegetable oil (or any oil of choice). Heat the oil on medium heat. Then add in the minced up garlic and fry for a good 3-4 minutes until they turn slightly golden. It should not be completely brown since it will continue cooking while you take it off the heat. It should be a little white in the center but also golden on the outer edges. Take it off the heat and let it cool completely before using it. Put the garlic oil through a sieve and save the garlic oil for brushing onto the tapioca balls, and the fried garlic as a garnish. *Store leftover oil and fried garlic to be used for stir fry or soups. 🙂
TAPIOCA PEARL
- In a bowl, add in the tapioca pearls. Pour in 3 cups of room temperature water and let it soak for a good 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, strain the pearls over a sieve and let it strain for a good 15-20 minutes before using. It shouldn't be wet. Then transfer the drained pearls onto another bowl. Massage and knead the pearls a little bit so you have some stickiness to work with. This will help with being able to form the pearls around the filling.
- Once the pearls feels workable, take about 1 tbsp worth or so of the pearls and flatten it on the palm of your hand. Add in one pork filling ball in the center and work the pearls around the filling so it's completely covered. Repeat until all the pearls are used up. (I tend to have meat filling left over. So you can soak more pearls or freeze the meat filling). You can also make a thinner coating of tapioca if you desire a thinner outer layer and more meat filling.
COOKING
- In a pot, add in enough water to boil the pearls. Let it come to a boil and then add in the balls. Do not over stuff the pan. Stir a little bit so the balls doesn't stick onto the bottom of the pan. Let it boil and cook for a good 8-10 minutes or so or until the balls starts floating to the top and is clear and translucent. Then take a slotted spoon and scoop out the balls onto a garlic oil greased plate. This will help ensure it doesn't stick onto the plate and onto each other. Brush the top of the balls with extra garlic oil and garnish with the fried garlic. Continue this process until all the balls are cooked and used up. *If you are boiling multiple batches, check the water consistency to continue cooking the rest. The water will get thick due to the starches. Change the water if needed.
- Once the balls are cooked and greased well. Let it cool. Serve onto a plate with lettuce leaves, fresh cilantro, and chili peppers. Eat by itself or wrap it in the lettuce with cilantro and pepper. Enjoy!
These balls can be cooked in a steamer with greased banana leaves placed in the steamer for about 10-12 minutes or until they become translucent and cooked in the middle. I like boiling mine since it makes the balls look prettier. 🙂
*Coloring: Add as much coloring as you want. I did around 1 tsp (& adjusted) to 1 cup water to 1/2 cup pearls
(I bought both of the powders on Amazon. Just type and find)
Happy cooking!
-CHawjCreations
Notes
Make these balls as small as you want. It's all to you. You can also color the tapioca pearls during the soaking process. Add natural food coloring or color of your choice. Amount really depends on you. Leftover fillings can be frozen and be used next time.
4 comments
Can you make ahead and freeze these? Would you freeze before cooking or after?
Thanks for sharing, and showing step by step. Appreciated??
I can’t wait to try and make these! They will make really fun appetizers. For the minced pork, should I use 50% fat and 50% meat? That’s what I use to make Laab.
When do you add the crushed peanuts for the filling?