Khanom thian

A sticky black-sesame dough round a savoury-sweet mung bean filling, folded into a leaf pyramid.

Vegan.

Ingredients

filling

• 150 g split mung beans
• 80 g palm sugar
• 4 shallots, finely chopped
• 0.5 teaspoon salt
• 0.5 teaspoon white pepper
• 2 tablespoons oil

dough

• 250 g glutinous rice flour
• 2 tablespoons black sesame seeds, toasted and ground
• 200 ml coconut milk
• 40 g caster sugar
• 0.25 teaspoon salt

to wrap

• 32 banana leaf pieces, 15 cm square
• oil, for brushing

Method

1. THE FILLING IS SAVOURY-SWEET, WITH SHALLOT AND PEPPER IN IT. That is what people do not expect and it is the point: fried shallot and white pepper against a sweet sticky dough. Made as a plain sweet bean paste it is a dull dumpling.
2. Steam the mung beans 25 minutes until they crush easily, then mash them smooth.
3. Fry the shallots in the oil until gold, 5 minutes, then the mashed bean, palm sugar, salt and pepper, stirred 8 minutes until stiff enough to roll.
4. Cool and roll into 2 cm balls.
5. Dough: ground black sesame into the flour, then the coconut milk, sugar and salt worked to a soft sticky dough. It will be grey-black and will stick to everything.
6. OIL YOUR HANDS AND THE LEAF, generously. This dough has nothing to stop it welding itself to both.
7. Two leaf squares crossed for each parcel, brushed with oil.
8. A flattened disc of dough in the oiled palm, a filling ball in, closed over and sealed.
9. FOLD THE LEAF INTO A PYRAMID: bring three corners up over the dough, overlapping, then tuck the fourth under the base. The shape holds itself if the folds are tight and needs no string.
10. Steam 25 minutes. Cool 15 minutes before opening -- the dough is molten straight out and sticks to the leaf.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Thailand · All recipes