Feeling a little homesick and missing Singapore food, I made some tau suan for myself on Sunday. I managed to find pandan leaves at the wet market in Central. The split mung beans were found at my neighbourhood supermarket – these should be easily found anywhere in Hong Kong. The rest of the ingredients like potato or sweet potato floor (I don’t think the consistency was compromised by not having water chestnut flour) and caster sugar can be found in supermarkets or local dry goods stores.

I found a simple method online from Seetoh (of Makansutra fame) whose stir-frying of the split mung beans speeded up the process of making this dish as compared to the traditional method of steaming. I found that the consistency was the same and according to him, stir-frying of the beans actually helps them to stay in shape when they are put to boil in the pandan water.

Watch the video demonstration here.

I didn’t have the dough fritter this time ‘cos personally I just like to eat the beans. But if I were to make it for others, I’d definitely get them. It was a simple dessert to make and definitely helped ease the homesickness!

Recipe: 

Ingredients: (serves 2 – 4)

100g split mung bean
2 knots of pandan leaves
1 litre of water
1 tablespoon caster sugar
Cane sugar to taste
1 pair of fried dough fritter (油条)

For thickening:
1/2 – 3/4 tablespoon potato / sweet potato flour
100ml drinking water

1. Soak mung beans for 10 minutes in water till the beans slightly expand. Drain well and put aside.

2. While soaking the mung beans, in another pot bring about 1 litres of water to boil, add in pandan leaves together and simmer for about 5 – 7 minutes till the water changes colour.

3. In a non-stick pan or pot, fry the drained mung beans together with about 1 tablespoon of caster sugar over medium low heat till the beans are caramelised. Turn off the heat and put aside.

4. Remove the pandan leaves from the water, add in the cooked beans and simmer on medium low for about 5 minutes. Then add in caster sugar to taste.

5. Lower the heat and quickly stir in the potato / sweet potato flour mixture to thicken it.

6. Turn off the fire and ladle tau suan into serving bowls. Put some cut fried dough fritter on top and serve.