Comfort Cooking
Covid-19 stay-home recipe: Easy-to-make tau suan to satisfy sweet tooth
At a loss as to what to cook today? Fret not. In this daily series, STFood Online Editor Hedy Khoo features nourishing recipes you can whip up during the circuit breaker period
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The sticky sweet texture of the tau suan (sweet mung bean soup) goes well with savoury and crispy you tiao.
ST PHOTO: HEDY KHOO
Now that we have to bid a temporary farewell to our favourite confectioneries and dessert shops, it is time to whip up simple classic desserts at home.
Tau suan (sweet mung bean soup) brings back happy memories of my childhood. My late paternal grandmother used to buy it for me as a treat.
The highlight of the dessert is the topping of you tiao (fried dough sticks).
Given the circuit breaker measures, it might be a little tough to get hold of you tiao. Then simply go without - it just means less calories.
But if you do have you tiao, toast it and cut it into pieces just before serving. The savoury and crispy pieces complement the sticky sweet texture of the tau suan.
It does require some patience to caramelise the sugar. Do it over low heat and you should get a beautiful rich caramel.
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Tau suan
INGREDIENTS
300g mung beans
12 pandan leaves
250g sugar
2½ litres water
140g sweet potato flour
100ml water
3 Tbs sugar (optional)
4 you tiao (fried dough sticks, toasted and cut into bite-sized pieces)
METHOD
1. Soak the mung beans for two hours. Drain off water and rinse.
2. Cut four pandan leaves and place them with the mung beans in a heat-proof bowl.
3. Steam on high heat for 20 to 25 minutes. Check that the mung beans are cooked but not split.
4. Discard the pandan leaves.
5. In the meantime, in a sturdy stainless steel pot, heat the sugar over low heat. Do not stir until the sugar caramelises.
6. Boil the water in a separate pot and add to the caramel. The caramel will crystallise but will melt eventually.
7. Add the remaining pandan leaves into the pot of syrup.
8. Mix the sweet potato flour with 100ml of water to dissolve it. Add the mixture to the syrup.
9. Add the steamed mung beans to the syrup. If you find the mixture not sweet enough, add the sugar.
10. Stir and turn off the heat.
11. Discard the pandan leaves.
12. Serve hot and garnish with you tiao pieces.
Yields eight servings
