Sweets and drinksSweet SoupsVietnamabout 45 minutes
When mangosteen season arrives it is time for this che with pandan and coconut. What makes it good is the sweet tart segments in their clear starch coating, under a coconut sauce scented with pandan. The difficulty is that a long boil turns the segments to pulp.
The mangosteen segments are rolled in tapioca starch and cooked separately, lifted out the moment the coating turns clear and dropped into cool water. The pandan water, coconut milk and sweetener are simmered until slightly thickened, then taken off the heat.
This batch weighs about 584g, at roughly 128 calories per 100g.
Method
Wash 4 pandan leaves, cut them into pieces, blend them with 100ml water, and strain the liquid through a sieve, discarding the pulp.
Wash 300g mangosteen, separate the segments, and roll them in 50g tapioca starch.
Put the pandan water, 150ml coconut milk, 72g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and 100ml water into a pot and simmer until the mixture thickens slightly, then turn off the heat.
Drop the coated mangosteen segments into a pot of boiling water and cook until the starch coating turns clear, then lift them into cooled boiled water.
To serve, add the mangosteen to the pandan coconut mixture.
Tips
Roll the mangosteen in tapioca starch and cook it separately, as the clear coating turns chewy and wraps each segment.
Lift the mangosteen straight into cooled boiled water so the segments do not stick together.
Strain the pandan water carefully and discard the pulp to keep the soup clear.
Cook the coated mangosteen right away, since the coating draws in moisture and slides off in the pot.
Take the pandan coconut mixture off the heat as soon as it thickens slightly, since overcooking splits it and drives off the pandan aroma.
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.