If you had grown up in Singapore, you would have grown up with Tao Suan, which is a Chinese sweet dessert made with split mung beans.
I rarely eat tao suan, but when the craving strikes, it really hits me hard. I don’t like the tao suan sold at the shops these days. Most contain loads of starch and are super sweet. Yucks.
The last time I cooked this at home, I wasn’t impressed with the results. I used the traditional method of cooking, which involves steaming the beans then cooking them in water. I didn’t like how mushy the beans became after all that cooking.
And then, I found this recipe.
No steaming required and the beans stayed whole! Also, you can control how soft the beans are by varying the cooking time. Best if all, the amount of sweetness can also be adjusted.
I love it!
Let me show you how easy it is to cook some tao suan at home.
First, soak the split mung beans in room temperature water for 5 minutes. At the end of this time, drain away the water.
In a pot, add water and pandan leaves. Bring this to a boil and then let it simmer for about 10 minutes on low heat.
In a NON-STICK frying pan, fry the mung beans with 3 tablespoons of sugar on low heat. Keep stirring until the mung beans are caramelized. This will take about 8 to 10 minutes. You will see a change in color – the mung beans will turn a deeper shade of yellow.
Discard the pandan leaves. Carefully transfer the mung beans into the water.
Bring the water to a boil and allow the mung beans to continue boiling for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how soft you like the mung beans to be.
Add sugar to taste.
In a bowl, add the room temperature water to the sweet potato flour. Whisk until combined.
Turn off the heat and pour the sweet potato slurry in a thin, steady stream into the mung bean soup. Remember to stir constantly while you add the slurry.
Once the soup has thickened, it is done.
Serve hot, with some cut you tiao (油条).
Enjoy!
WORKSHOPS
Date: Friday 10 March 2017
Workshop: Hands-on Valrhona Marble Butter Cake and Lana-Inspired Chocolate Fudge Cake Workshop
Time: 9.30am – 12.30pm
Venue: Butter & Bake
Tickets Link > CLICK HERE
Date: Saturday 15 April 2017
Workshop: Hands-on Valrhona Marble Butter Cake and Lana-Inspired Chocolate Fudge Cake Workshop
Time: 9.00am – 12.00pm
Venue: The Eureka Cooking Lab
Tickets Link > CLICK HERE
Date: Thursday 2 March 2017
Workshop: Hands-on Pandan Chiffon & Hokkaido Milk Cocoa Chiffon Cakes Workshop
Time: 9.30am – 12.30pm
Venue: Butter & Bake
Tickets Link > CLICK HERE
Date: Saturday 8 April 2017
Workshop: Hands-on Pandan Chiffon & Hokkaido Milk Cocoa Chiffon Cakes Workshop
Time: 2.30pm – 5.30pm
Venue: The Eureka Cooking Lab
Tickets Link > CLICK HERE
Date: Wednesday 1 April 2017
Workshop: Hands on Mango Yogurt Chiffon Cake Workshop
Time: 9.00am – 11.00pm
Venue: The Eureka Cooking Lab
Tickets Link > CLICK HERE
Date: Saturday 8 April 2017
Workshop: Hands-on Ondeh Ondeh Cake with Gula Melaka Swiss Meringue Buttercream Workshop
Time: 9.00am – 12.00pm
Venue: The Eureka Cooking Lab
Tickets Link > CLICK HERE
- 1.5 litres water
- 1 bunch pandan leaves
- 250g split mung beans
- 3 tablespoons caster sugar (for cooking with beans)
- 50g sweet potato flour
- 50ml water
- 2-3 tablespoons caster sugar
- 1-2 sticks you tiao
- First, soak the split mung beans in room temperature water for 5 minutes. At the end of this time, drain away the water.
- In a pot, add water and pandan leaves. Bring this to a boil and then let it simmer for about 10 minutes on low heat.
- In a NON-STICK frying pan, fry the mung beans with 3 tablespoons of sugar on low heat. Keep stirring until the mung beans are caramelized. This will take about 8 to 10 minutes. You will see a change in color – the mung beans will turn a deeper shade of yellow.
- Discard the pandan leaves. Carefully transfer the mung beans into the pandan leaves.
- Bring the water to a boil and allow the mung beans to continue boiling for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how soft you like the mung beans to be.
- Add sugar to taste.
- In a bowl, add the room temperature water to the sweet potato flour. Whisk until combined.
- Turn off the heat and pour the sweet potato slurry in a thin, steady stream into the mung bean soup. Remember to stir constantly while you add the slurry.
- Once the soup has thickened, it is done.
- Serve hot, with some cut you tiao (油条).
Delicious, Thank you
Hi Diana
Thanks for sharing tao suan recipe:) i’ve tried many method except yours where I’m going to try soon 🙂 but may I know for you recipe, when I reheat the tao suan will it turn mushy and the bean breaks up terribly? This is what I face always. Kindly advise is there any way to prevent the beans turn mushy when reheating. Thanks very much:)
Hi Christine, I kept one portion left to see what happens when I reheated. The only way I can think of is not to cook the beans too soft to start with. I reheated mine too – it was a bit broken but not as back as those you get in the shops. But this is one of those desserts that just don’t keep well, so maybe you can fry the beans and do the boiling before you want to serve?
Hi Diana
Thanks for the reply 🙂 Great idea! I didn’t think of that! Thanks and good day!
Hi Diana,
I used to think mung beans are green beans but from the picture, it is apparently not the same?
Hi
Is this the same recipe as Makansutra?
it is adapted from Makansutra, yes.
Hi D,
I’d tried yours & I’ve also tried to reheat.
To avoid it from breaking up is to put it in the microwave @ high heat for 2-3 mins or select “soup”.
I understand that the beans when “soak” too long after cook will split it, after all it’s beans & its cabs.
Good idea! Thanks for sharing Joey!!
Hi
I love Tao Suan, one of my favorite local desserts. I tried various ways of cooking the mung beans. I found steaming better than cooking it. What I did was steamed the mung beans and cook the syrup separately. When the syrup is cooked, I add the mung beans into the syrup. But I would like to try your method.
Hi Margaret I tried doing that too but the beans still broke into pieces I think because I steamed too long? But now I have found this method I really like it because the beans stayed whole 😛
Oh Diana, I usually buy green beans, soak overnight (more work). I was told the ready to use mung beans are chemically treated, reason when boiled, beans break up.
Alamak that is a lot of work..
may I know must we use sweet potato flour? can we replace with tapioca flour or corn flour?
You can try.. I haven’t so I am not sure how well they work.
Hi
Thanks for sharing. But I notice there are no indication of the quantity of the mung beans and Sweet potato flour to water.
Hi did you read the recipe? It is at the bottom of the post.