Sweets and drinksCandyVietnamAbout 1 hour of cooking, plus 1 to 2 hours to cool
Che lam starts with nep cai hoa vang glutinous rice, toasted until fragrant and ground fine, then cooked with malt syrup and ginger until the mass turns thick and pliable. A good piece is chewy without clinging to the teeth, with nutty peanuts inside and a warm ginger note at the back of the throat.
The hardest part is toasting the rice, since a slightly high flame turns the flour bitter and takes the batch with it. The rice flour goes in a spoonful at a time, stirred in one direction. Tipped in all at once, it lumps immediately. The common mistake is leaving the pan on too long, because the mass sets hard as it cools and becomes very difficult to cut.
This batch weighs about 748g, at roughly 325 calories per 100g.
Method
Rinse 300g nep cai hoa vang glutinous rice and drain it thoroughly. Toast over the lowest heat, stirring constantly, until the grains turn lightly golden and smell fragrant, without letting them scorch.
Once the rice is completely cool, grind it fine. Divide the flour into three, two parts for cooking and one part for dusting.
Crush 100g roasted peanuts coarsely, not to a powder. Scrape and wash 1 piece of fresh ginger weighing about 50g, then chop it finely.
Put 200g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 45g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and 50g malt syrup in a heavy bottomed pan and heat over medium until fully dissolved.
Once the mixture simmers, lower the heat, add the chopped ginger and 1/2 teaspoon salt and stir.
Add the rice flour a spoonful at a time, stirring constantly in one direction with a wooden spoon, until the mass is thick, smooth and pliable.
Stir in the peanuts. As soon as the mass feels heavy on the spoon and pulls away from the pan, turn off the heat.
Scatter the dusting flour over a clean tray, tip out the hot mass, roll it out evenly to 1 to 1.5cm thick and dust another layer over the top.
Let it cool completely for 1 to 2 hours, then cut it with a sharp knife into rectangles of about 2cm by 5cm.
Tips
Malt syrup keeps che lam chewy and glossy and helps it hold longer.
With no whole glutinous rice on hand, good quality cooked glutinous rice flour works, though the toasted aroma is fainter.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves more slowly, so cook a few minutes longer and stir again after 5 minutes until the mixture is clear before the flour goes in.
A knife dipped in hot water and wiped dry cuts cleanly, without dragging the mass into threads.
Malt syrup is still sugar, so this one is best eaten in moderation.
Wrap each piece in parchment and keep them in an airtight box somewhere cool and dry.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.