Che San (Cassava and Mung Bean Sweet Soup), Sweetened with Monk Fruit
Sweets and drinksSweet SoupsVietnam2 hours to prepare, 1 hour to cook
Che san comes out lightly thickened, with nutty cassava and mung beans cooked soft. The cassava is candied in syrup first, so the sweetness runs right through. The hardest part is keeping the pieces whole, since a heavy hand with the spoon turns the whole pot to mush.
Steaming the cassava with pandan leaves gives it fragrance before it is candied, while boiling it straight in the pot leaves it crumbly. Tapioca starch is dissolved first and drizzled in slowly, since pouring it in at once makes the soup lumpy.
This batch weighs about 1.8kg, at roughly 102 calories per 100g.
Method
Soak 50g mung beans in hot water for 2 to 3 hours, then rinse them clean.
Add 1 teaspoon salt to a basin of water, peel 1kg cassava, soak it in the water and rinse it again. Cut small roots into slices and large ones into bite sized pieces.
Put 1 liter water in a pot with pandan leaves, set a steamer basket on top and steam the cassava for about 30 minutes.
In another pot, cook 162g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 1.5 liters water, the mung beans and pandan leaves until the beans are soft.
Put 63g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and 30ml water in a pan, heat until dissolved, then add the cassava and turn it gently until the syrup coats it evenly.
Tip the candied cassava into the mung bean pot, stir gently, lift out the pandan leaves, add 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring it back to a boil.
Mix 5 tablespoons tapioca starch with 50ml water and drizzle it slowly into the pot while stirring steadily. Add the shredded semi mature coconut, then turn off the heat.
In another pan, cook 400ml young coconut milk with 2 tablespoons kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, stirring, until it just simmers, then turn off the heat and spoon it over each bowl.
Tips
Candying the cassava in syrup before it goes into the pot gives it deeper sweetness and keeps the pieces whole.
Steaming the cassava with pandan leaves adds fragrance, while boiling it straight in the pot leaves it crumbly.
Drizzling the tapioca slurry in slowly with constant stirring keeps the soup from turning lumpy.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly, so stir it well in the pan and check the bottom of the pot again.
The coconut milk only comes to a gentle simmer, since a hard boil splits the oil out and loses the smooth richness.
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.