Tuesday 19 April 2011

[30 Minutes]Tau Suan With You Tiao(豆爽油条)

Whenever you walk into a local hawker center or foodcourt in Singapore, you can easier spot a stall or two selling variety of desserts such as Red Bean Soup, Green Bean Soup, Black Sticky Rice, Ginkgo Barley with Beancurd Sheet, Ice Kachang and etc. Tau suan(豆爽) is also one of the popular item on the list which is a sweet Chinese dessert made of split mung beans which are steamed till soften before being stirred into a pandan infused water then thickened with either potato or water chestnut flour.

Last two weeks so coincidentally I have received about 4 request on this Tau Suan recipe which I thought perhaps I could prepare with some step-by-step photos to share this all time favourite hawker dessert with more readers who is interested in preparing this at home.

This dessert is served warm with crispy sliced fried fritter (you tiao - 油条) and the texture is kind of like porridge consistency where the bean appears in clear thick liquid. Whereas mine was a bit overcooked because I left it in the thermal pot while running some errands before having it a few hours later.

[STEAMING METHOD]
Ingredients: (serves 2 - 4)
100g Spilt Green Bean (hulled mung bean, 去壳绿豆)
2 Knots of Pandan Leaves
1 Litre of Water
Cane Sugar To Taste
1 Pair of Fried Fritter (You Tiao, 油条)

For Thickening:
1/2 - 3/4 Tablespoon Potato/Water Chestnut Flour
100ml Drinking Water


Method:-
1. Soak mung beans for at least 30 minutes in lukewarm water till the bean slightly expand.

2. Drain well, steam mung beans with a knot or small pieces of pandan leaves for about 20 - 30 minutes on medium heat till soft.

3. While waiting for the mung beans to be cooked, in another pot bring about 1 litres of water to boil, add in a knot of pandan leaves together with cane sugar to taste.

3. When the bean is cooked and soften, add it into the prepared syrup water and slowly stir in the flour mixture (mix potato/water chestnut flour with water and give it a stir before adding to the soup) to thicken the water.

4. Turn off the heat and ladle into serving bowls and top with fried fritter/you tiao.


Other than the common way of steaming the mung beans I have learnt another new way from a video on YouTube by Mr KF Seetoh from Makansutra Cooking. He actually fried the mung bean(soaked and drained) with some caster sugar till caramelised before adding it into the pre-cooked pandan water. Then he sweeten the mixture with sugar and thickened it with water chestnut flour mixture before serving.  According to his method the whole process of cooking takes less than 30 minutes so if you are interested you can take a look at the video HERE with cooking instructions and recipe too.

[STIR-FRIED METHOD]
Ingredients: (serves 2 - 4)
100g Spilt Green Bean (hulled mung bean, 去壳绿豆)
2 Knots of Pandan Leaves
1 Litre of Water
1 Tablespoon Caster Sugar
Cane Sugar To Taste
1 Pair of Fried Fritter (You Tiao, 油条)

For Thickening:
1/2 - 3/4 Tablespoon Potato/Water Chestnut Flour
100ml Drinking Water


Method:-
1. Soak mung beans for 10 minutes in lukewarm water till the bean slightly expand. Drain well and set aside.

2. While soaking the mung bean, in another pot bring about 1 litres of water to boil, add in pandan leaves together and simmer for about 5 - 7 minutes till the water change colour. (refer to the photo above)

3. In a non-stick pan or pot, add in drained mung bean together with about 1 tablespoon of caster sugar and fry over medium low heat till the beans are fragrance and caramelised. (according to Mr Seetoh this process will held to firm up the beans while cooking) Turn off the heat and set aside.

4. Remove the pandan leaves from the water, add in the cooked beans and simmer on medium low for about 5 minutes then season it with cane sugar/caster sugar to taste.

5. Lastly lower the heat and quickly stir in the potato/water chestnut flour mixture to thickened it.

6. Turn off the heat and ladle tau suan into serving bowls, top with fried fritter/you tiao and serve.


Overall I preferred the second method where you stir-fried the mung beans with caster sugar to caramelise it for that extra fragrance and colour. And it also speed up the cooking process without the need to pre-soak and steam the beans for at least an hour or so. And in this way, you can easily cook your favourite Tau Suan at anytime of the day in just less than 30 minutes time. If you can't find fried fritter/you tiao in the middle of the night you can always replace it with some ready to eat frozen prata sheet which can be reheat in a couple of minutes. So which method do you prefer, Steaming or Stir-fry?


Once again, thanks for all your "BUZZ(s)" and support friends. Tau Suan With You Tiao(豆爽油条) post has make it to FoodBuzz Today's Top 9, 20th April 2011.(Here)



Featured On: FoodBuzz Today's Top 9, 20th April 2011.(Here)

25 comments:

  1. Nasi Lemak Lover19/4/11 1:01 pm

    Frankly, I have never try this way before. I must make this soon for my family as I bet they will love this. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Long time since I had this delicious dessert! So difficult to find this kind of desserts now...I shall have to resort to cooking some of my own soon! Thanks for sharing!

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  3. wah i love this also ellena! i must have lots of you tiao to go with this! thanks for sharing!

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  4. U meant by the stir-fried method? This is my 1st time trying too and I am surprised that it taste sooo good and easy to prepare.

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  5. Me tooo I also love mine to have a lot of youtiao to go with it :)

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  6. Parsley Sage19/4/11 9:52 pm

    Those fritters looks fabulous! Love this recipe :)

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  7. Hi Ellena! Hm I never tried this food before, but it sounds a perfect soup for my lunch. It's been really cold here...

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  8. mycookinghut20/4/11 4:11 am

    Looks like a great bowl of tong sui! I miss this!

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  9. Ellena, my good friend in Singapore introduced this tong sui to me and since then I love it. Never thought of making this myself but now with your recipe, I think I should try. Didn't know it is so quick to make.

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  10. :) Can you find spilt mung bean over there at chinatown? if yes then u can try this le :)

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  11. Do it try out, it's so easy to prepare and it's so warm hearted to have a bowl esp if u missed local food while overseas....

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  12. wow! i love tao suan! but was told by my grandma to soak the mung beans in water overnight with some water changes in the middle. your method is definitely much easier!

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  13. Yup Alan! The traditional way of preparing Tau Suan was far tooo tedious for these days where everything we want is ready and fast.

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  14. Adora Ding21/4/11 2:48 am

    This looks so appetizing, something my husband would like. As the days get warmer we need to eat more of green mung beans to cool us down.

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  15. So interesting. Why is this dish considered a dessert? It looks more savory than sweet.

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  16. ohh my mom makes this and i grew up eating it

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  17. Oh I'm so glad you posted this. I have been thinking of this dessert for some time. I'm going to try the stir fry method I think rather than steaming. It certainly looks and sound easier to me.

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  18. Exquisite and delicious and also very easy to make. I love this kind of dishes.

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  19. May I check if anyone knows why my muang beans sink to the bottom after the tao suan is cooked? By right, the muang beans should be in a suspension with the liquid right?

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  20. Thank you Ellena for posting this ricipe,, ^^ my fav. Tau Suan... Gotta try this also, hehee
    Do you know how to make the You Tiao?

    Yesi Ho

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  21. Hi

    Why my Tau suan turn out to be very watery

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    Replies
    1. Did you used the sweet potato starch to thicken the water?

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  22. Thank for sharing this recipe, Ellena. I have been looking for the right type of flour to thicken the soup and you have provided the answer. I used the steaming method previously which yielded more mushy beans. The beans using the frying method retains its crunch.

    As usual your recipe needs minimal tweaking which really makes it easy for beginners to follow. I reduced the water to 800ml as I like to taste more beans.

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  23. I tried making it using the steaming method but it turns out really watery. But I made a boo boo and used sweet potato flour (instead of potato flour). Is that the cause?

    I also tried to add more sweet potato flour after I turn off the heat. But still futile.

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Regards
Ellena (Cuisine Paradise)

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