Che Thap Cam (Northern Mixed Sweet Soup), Sweetened with Monk Fruit
Sweets and drinksSweet SoupsVietnamAbout 1 hour, not counting the time to soak the beans
Che thap cam in the northern style is built in layers: creamy red beans, soft sweet potato and clear tapioca pearls. The difficulty is that cooking everything in one pot breaks the beans down and leaves the potato shapeless.
The answer is to cook each part on its own and only bring them together in the glass. The beans soak for 5 to 6 hours to swell, while the sweet potato needs only 10 to 15 minutes, since longer turns it mushy.
This batch weighs about 1.1kg, at roughly 185 calories per 100g. That counts the tapioca pearls and the coconut milk poured over the top.
Method
Rinse 200 g of red beans, then soak them in cold water for about 5 to 6 hours so they swell and cook more easily.
Rinse 200 g of tapioca pearls and soak them for 30 minutes before cooking. Wash a few pandan leaves and tie them into a bundle.
Peel 2 sweet potatoes and a quarter of a taro, wash them, cut them into bite sized cubes and soak them in lightly salted water to remove the sap and keep them from darkening, then rinse once more.
Put the tapioca pearls in a pot with a little water and boil for 15 to 20 minutes until they turn clear. Stir so they do not catch on the bottom.
Lift the pearls into a colander, drop them straight into a bowl of cold water, stir gently and lift them out after 10 minutes.
Put the soaked red beans in a pot, add just enough water to cover and cook until tender. Season with about half of the 180g of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend along with the vanilla, then turn off the heat.
Put the sweet potato, the taro and the pandan leaves in a pot of water and cook for 10 to 15 minutes until tender. Season with the rest of the kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, then turn off the heat.
Spoon each part into a glass, add shaved ice, scatter fresh shredded coconut over and pour 100 ml of coconut milk on top.
Tips
Cooking the beans and the sweet potato separately and combining them in the glass keeps the beans whole and the potato in shape.
Give the sweet potato only 10 to 15 minutes, as any longer and it goes mushy.
A full 5 to 6 hour soak lets the red beans swell evenly and soften quickly.
Sweeten the red bean pot with half the amount and keep the rest for the coconut milk.
Layer the red beans at the bottom, then the sweet potato and the tapioca pearls, since heavy stirring clouds the glass.
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.