Sweets and drinksSweet SoupsVietnamAbout 50 minutes of cooking
Che bap gives you a pot that is sweet without being heavy. The corn is nutty, the liquid lightly thickened, and a ladle of coconut milk finishes it. The tricky part is the cornstarch, which goes lumpy if it is poured in too fast.
The stripped cobs stay in the pot and simmer with a bundle of pandan leaves for 30 minutes to draw out their natural sweetness. The cornstarch has to be dissolved first, then poured in slowly while stirring. Taste the pot again before turning off the heat.
This batch weighs about 3.5kg, at roughly 125 calories per 100g.
Method
Husk 4 ears of corn, rinse them, pull off all the silk, then shave off the kernels into a bowl. Keep the cobs for the soup.
Wash the pandan leaves, drain them and tie them into a bundle. Put 3 tablespoons cornstarch in a bowl with a little water and stir until fully dissolved with no lumps.
Heat 2 liters of water and simmer the cobs with the pandan bundle and 1/2 teaspoon salt for about 30 minutes so the liquid turns naturally sweet and fragrant.
Lift out the cobs and pandan, add the corn kernels and cook another 20 minutes.
Add 270g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and stir until dissolved, then pour in the dissolved cornstarch slowly, stirring as you pour so it does not go lumpy.
Stir the pot over low heat until it thickens to the right consistency, taste for sweetness and turn off the heat.
Let the soup cool a little, ladle it into bowls and pour 200ml coconut milk over the top. Add ice if you want it cold.
Tips
Keeping the cobs to simmer for the base gives naturally sweet liquid.
Simmering pandan leaves with the cobs fills the pot with aroma.
Pour the cornstarch in very slowly with constant stirring so the soup does not go lumpy.
The sweetness reads more clearly once the soup has cooled a little, so do not add more while it is piping hot.
Shave the corn into thin slices rather than popping off whole kernels, which gives a thicker, more fragrant pot.
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.