Chè Trôi Nước

This is another sweet soup that I had made before I decided to start this blog so I didn't quite pay that much attention to the quality of the photos. Maybe one day when I make this again I will update the photos.

Chè trôi nước is similar to the Chinese tang yuan dessert except we use mung beans for the filling instead of red beans or black sesame seeds, and we add ginger to the syrup. It's served hot so is great for those chilly days. 

This dish is quite simple, the only difficulty lies in making the dough. It's the reason why Hồ Xuân Hương (1772–1822), female poet, arguably the first outspoken Vietnamese feminist, wrote a poem in which she used the image of the glutinous rice balls to talk about the fate of Viet women of the time (or even now):

 Rắn nát mặc dù tay kẻ nặn

which loosely/literally translate as "whether being whole or broken depends on the hands of the maker".

Well, that's a tiny little glimpse into Viet literary world. Let's start cracking, shall we?

INGREDIENTS:

Make about 4-8 servings

1/3-1/2 cup dry mung beans, soaked for about 2 hours

1 tsp vegetable oil

1/2 small shallot, finely chopped

Salt

Brown sugar, to taste

6 cups of water (less if you are going to serve 2 glutinous rice balls as 1 portion)

2-in piece of ginger, 2/3 cut into thin strips, 1/3 finely minced

1 cup of glutinous rice flour 

1/2 cup boiling water

White sesame seeds, toasted to golden

Coconut cream.

METHOD:

Steam the mung beans until soft, blend with 3Tsp of sugar and a pinch of salt till smooth. Heat the oil over medium heat, saute the chopped shallot until soft. Add the chopped ginger and cook for about 1min. Reduce the heat to low. Add the mung bean past. Add more sugar until the paste is slightly sweet. Cook until the paste is dry, stirring often.

Meanwhile, in a sauce pan over medium high heat, heat the 6 cups of water, brown sugar and ginger strips until the water boils and the sugar has completely dissolved. Reduce the heat to low and let the syrup cook to infuse it with the ginger flavor.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour and a pinch of salt. Gradually add boiling water until a soft dough is formed, knead lightly till smooth. Divide the dough into balls of ~1-inch in diameter. 

Form the mung bean paste into balls that are slightly smaller than the dough balls. Flatten each dough ball, put a bean paste ball in the middle. Fold and edge and roll to close. Repeat until done. If there is left over dough, roll them into tiny little balls.

In a different pot, bring water to a boil. Add the rice balls to cook. When they float to the surface, remove them using a slotted spoon and place them under running water for about 2 min. 

Put the rice balls into the syrup pan. Turn the heat back on until the liquid boils. Turn the heat off. At this point, you should get something like this:

You can serve the coconut cream straight up but I normally like to cook it for a bit before serving. Pour the coconut cream into a small sauce pan over low to medium heat, add a pinch of salt and 1Tsp of sugar, cook until the cream thickens. If you like really thick coconut cream, add some corn starch dissolved in water. 

Serve one or two rice balls in a small bowl, top with coconut cream and toasted sesame seeds. Enjoy the dessert, and remember to exercise afterward ;)

I think some people add pandan leaves to the syrup but I like the ginger flavor to stand out so I don't.