water is my secret to the best bubble waffles

ready to bake up more magic at home? let's make my viral vegan mochi bubble waffles, inspired by an iconic Hong Kong treat

ANNOUNCEMENT

my dear friend, my next cookbook, 108 Asian Cookies, is coming this October, and if you preorder now, you will receive a year-long subscription to my premium substack (worth $70) and access to new recipes all year long! Preorders mean so, so much to underrepresented authors like me and show publishers and retailers that voices like mine deserve prominent spaces on the bookshelves! Thank you!

END OF ANNOUNCEMENT

dear friend,

Growing up, my Cantonese mother would take my little sister and me shopping across Chinatown in NYC, almost every Sunday, and as if by tradition, we’d stop by a food stand and mom would buy us a bag of bubble waffles to share. You get about 20 pieces of bubbles for $1, but alas, long gone are those days when you can get anything decent to eat for a buck in America.

These days, it costs almost $8 for a sheet of bubble waffles when you buy them from bubble tea shops, and the wait for them is always long.

When deciding on dessert recipes to include in my second cookbook, Modern Asian Kitchen, I knew I had to work on and include a Hong Kong bubble waffle recipe. After testing the recipe about five times, I settled on one I liked. You won’t be disappointed with the recipe in the book. The photo above, by the way, is the photo shot for the book.

But since then, I’ve been tweaking my bubble waffle recipe some more and have now developed an egg-free and completely vegan one! (Scroll down for the free recipe.) Your bubble waffles will be beautifully golden, perfectly crispy on the outside, and semi-chewy like tender boba x mochi within. The tops will be smooth and shiny. Perfect. Just perfect.

You can also add toppings to your bubble waffles. My kiddo’s favorite combo is cheddar cheese and bacon. Now, please note that even though this has a mochi texture, these waffles are not gluten-free. Wheat flour is used here.

Reel for reference:

katlieu

A post shared by @katlieu

Before we get to the recipe, here’s what I’ve been “tweeting” lately:

kudos to Ms. Rachel and Greta, real-life superheroes. I love how Ms. Rachel says that she doesn’t care if she’s canceled or she loses her career. It’s gross right now to remain silent. As a food creator, I just can’t be silent either, while children starve and are dying in Gaza…

I hope others with platforms, no matter how big or small, will choose to be on the right side of history… <3

Kat Lieu’s Easy Bubble Waffle Recipe

Ingredients:

• 330 g water

• 280 g cake flour

• 230 g granulated sugar, add a little more if you like sweeter waffles

• 60 g vegetable, corn, or canola oil

• 60 g tapioca starch

• 50 g ripe banana or silken tofu (either substitutes one egg)

• 2 tablespoons custard powder (it should be vegan if you need this recipe to be vegan)

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 tablespoon red miso or a pinch of kosher salt

• toppings and add-ins of your choice

Instructions:

1. Blend all ingredients (except toppings and add-ins) until smooth and well-combined. Hand-mixing in a large mixing bowl works, too.

2. This batter can be rested for 30 minutes or used immediately. It can be refrigerated for up to a week for later use.

3. Follow the manufacturer's instructions of your iron griddle, taiyaki maker, or electronic bubble waffle maker to make your bubble waffles. I will leave a tip for my premium subscribers here on how to make the waffles shiny. And there you have it!

4. Be sure to cool the waffles on a wire rack so they crisp up nicely.

Premium tips for a sample hook strategy for viral videos on IG:

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