Thua khiao tom namtan

Whole mung beans boiled soft before any sugar goes near them, then sweetened and rested.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (cream).

Ingredients

• 300 g whole green mung beans
• 1.2 litres water
• 150 g palm sugar
• 0.5 teaspoon salt
• 3 pandan leaves, knotted
• 150 ml coconut cream, to serve
• 0.25 teaspoon salt, for the cream

Method

1. SUGAR GOES IN ONLY AFTER THE BEANS ARE SOFT, and this is the one rule the dish lives by. Sugar in the water firms the skins and the beans will then never soften, however long you boil them. Soft first, sweet second.
2. WHOLE BEANS, NOT SPLIT. Split mung beans dissolve into a purée; whole ones keep their shape and split just at the end, which is what you want to see in the bowl.
3. Soak them 4 hours, then drain.
4. Boil in the plain water with the pandan, uncovered, 40 to 50 minutes. Skim the grey foam in the first 10 minutes.
5. They are ready when a bean crushes easily against the roof of the mouth and most have just begun to split. Not collapsed.
6. NOW the palm sugar and the half teaspoon of salt, and 10 minutes more at a gentle simmer.
7. REST IT OFF THE HEAT FOR 30 MINUTES before serving. The beans take up the syrup as it cools and the dish is noticeably better for it -- eaten straight away the syrup is around the beans rather than in them.
8. Warm the coconut cream with its quarter teaspoon of salt. Do not boil it.
9. Serve the beans warm in bowls with the salted cream spooned over, not stirred in.
10. Good cold the next day, when it thickens considerably.

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