Tau Suan (Split Mung Bean Dessert)
Warm, glossy pandan syrup thick with soft split mung beans, topped with crunchy cruller pieces. A Teochew hawker comfort bowl.
← Nouns Cooking · Malaysian & Singaporean
Ingredients
- 220 g Split, skinned mung beans, rinsed and soaked for 2 hours
- 1.4 l Water
- 4 Pandan leaves, knotted
- 100 g Sugar
- 30 g palm or brown sugar
- 1 pinch Salt
- 50 g sweet potato starch or potato starch, mixed with 80 ml water
- 2 Chinese crullers (you tiao / cakoi), sliced (optional)
Method
- Drain the soaked beans and steam them over high heat for 15–20 min, until soft but still whole.
- Meanwhile, bring the water, pandan, both sugars and salt to the boil and simmer for 5 min. Remove the pandan.
- Add the steamed beans to the syrup and bring back to a simmer.
- Stir the starch slurry, then pour it in slowly while stirring, until the soup turns thick, clear and glossy. Simmer for 1 minute.
- Serve hot, topped with slices of you tiao.
Tips
- Steaming the beans instead of boiling them keeps each one whole and gives the soup its jewel-like look.
- You tiao contain wheat; leave them out and the bowl is gluten-free.
Sources
Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:
Open Tau Suan (Split Mung Bean Dessert) in Nouns Cooking