Hello and Nyob Zoo Foodies!
Another popular SouthEast Asian dessert. This dessert can be seen and made in different flavors in Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and many more countries. Today, I’ll be showing you how to make pandan and mung bean flavor steamed layered cake. This steamed layered cake will have 9 layers! WOWZA. One of the most eye catching dessert but also a very time consuming one since it takes time to cook each layer as well as a 5-6 hrs wait after it’s cooked. Yes, yes, yes, very tedious. But worth the glory. There’s a lot of recipes for this dessert depending on what texture you want. So if you like a peel-able, thinner layers, chewy, bouncy,Ā but also soft texture, then this recipe is for you. If you like a more thicker layer, soft, and less chewy texture, then this recipe may not be for you. This dessert can get confusing in terms of how much batter to add per layer and what pan to use to make the layers evenly. This dessert can have a wide range of texture depending of what starch you end up using. The arrowroot starch gives it a nice elasticity and chew to it.Ā So hopefully this one is the one for you. This dessert can also be made into other flavors as well such as Pandan and coconut, ube and coconut, mung bean and coconut, you name it all. It doesn’t have to be pandan and mung bean. So give it a try and let me know if this recipe is easy to follow. And yes! This dessert can be made a day before, store in the fridge and serve the next day. Happy cooking!
Main Ingredients
Pandan water, mung beans, coconut milk, sugar, salt, pandan flavoring/extract
STARCHES:
Arrowroot starch*, Tapioca starch, and rice flour
*Arrowroot starch can be bought online or at your local grocery store (some may not have it). Substitute may include cassava starch or mung bean starch.
Cook the mung bean before using
Use a greased 9×3 inch round pan or a 9×9 square pan with at least 3-4 inches in height
Mixing the pandan batter
The mung bean batter
A diagram/drawing to help organize the portioning/layers
Steaming the layers
Let it cool for at least 6 hrs before cutting and consuming
Look at the layers
Wrap the knife w/ plastic wrap to cut the cake clean
Easy peel and snack š
So pretty!
ENJOY!
-CHawjCreations
Ingredients
- ---PANDAN FLAVOR---
- 1 cup pandan juice (1 cup water blend with 2 pandan leaf chopped)
- 600 ml coconut milk (2.5 cups)
- 1 cup sugar
- Ā½ tsp salt
- 1 Ā½ cup tapioca flour
- Ā¼ cup rice flour
- ā cup arrowroot flour
- 1 tsp pandan extract
- ---MUNG BEAN FLAVOR---
- ā cups mung bean soaked overnight
- 1 cup water for cooking the mung bean
- 600 ml coconut milk (2.5 cups)
- 1 cup sugar
- Ā½ tsp salt
- 1 Ā½ cup tapioca flour
- Ā¼ cup rice flour
- ā cup arrowroot flour
- Ā½ tsp pandan extract
- Water to add up to 1 cup w/ the pureed mung bean if needed
- Yellow food coloring
- ---MISC---
- 9x3 inch round pan or 9x9 square pan
- 1 Tbsp Oil
Instructions
MUNG BEAN LAYER
- In a pot add in the soaked mung beans and 1 cup of water. Let it come to a slight boil and then turn down the heat to slowly cook and steam the mung beans until they are soft. This should take about 15- 20 minutes. Then add it to a blender. Blend well. The mung bean puree should add up to 1 cup. If not, add water until it reaches 1 cup. Set aside.
- In another pot add in the sugar, salt, and coconut milk. Let it cook just until the sugar and salt dissolves (It does not need to boil. It should take about 1-2 minutes only). Take off the heat. Then add in the mung bean puree and a little bit of yellow food coloring to make it a little bit more yellow. Set aside.
- In a bowl add in the tapioca starch, arrowroot starch, and rice starch. Mix well. Then add in the wet ingredients and whisk until all the lumps are broken down. The batter is now ready.
PANDAN LAYERĀ
- In a blender, add in 1 cup of water and 2 pandan leaf chopped up. Blend well and then strain over a strainer to get rid of the pandan leaf. Reserve the pandan water and set aside.
- In another pot add in the sugar, salt, and coconut milk. Let it cook just until the sugar and salt dissolves (It does not need to boil. It should take about 1-2 minutes only). Take off the heat. Then add in the pandan water and a 1 tsp of pandan extract. Set aside.
- In a bowl add in the tapioca starch, arrowroot starch, and rice starch. Mix well. Then add in the wet ingredients and whisk until all the lumps are broken down. The batter is now ready.
STEAMING
- Get your steamer ready.Ā The water should be boiling before steaming.
- Get your 9x3 inch round pan or 9x9 square pan and brush it with 1 tbsp of neutral oil. Place it in the steamer to warm up the pan for about 3-5 minutes or so.
- Then add in the batter in this order/cooking time
- 1 cup Pandan layer. Steam for 5-8 minutes.
- 1 1/4 cup mung bean layer. Steam for 10 minutes
- 1 cup pandan layer. Steam for 10-12 minutes
- 1 1/4 cup mung bean layer. Steam for 10-12 minutes
- 1 cup pandan layer. Steam for 10-12 minutes
- 1 1/4 cup mung bean layer. Steam for 10-12 minutes
- 1 cup pandan layer. Steam for 10-15 minutes
- 1 1/4 cup mung bean layer. Steam for 10-15 minutes
- 1 cup pandan layer. Steam for 20 minutesTOTAL steam time for the whole cake is around 1 hr and 30+ minutes.
Once all the layers of cooked, turn off the heat and remove it out of the steamer. Let it cool for at least 5-6 hrs before cutting. Once cooled, flip the cake over. Wrap your knife in plastic wrap and cut the cake to your desire shape and size. And Enjoy!
-CHawjCreations
Notes
This cake can stay in the fridge for 1 week. It stays soft in room temperature for a good 2 days. After refrigerating, it may still be soft but you may microwave for 15 secs or so to warm it back up. If you don't want to make the mung bean flavor or vise versa, you can sub it out for other flavorings. But the recipe should always have 1 cup of the flavored liquid (for example 1 cup pandan water... or 1 cup mung bean water puree etc. It's up to you to choose the flavoring.
8 comments
Iāve tried many other recipes for this and Iāve got to say, yours is the best and easiest. Texture and taste is perfect. These are my absolute fav Asian snack. Thanks for the awesome recipe.
I made this in the evening and after a few hours of prep and steaming I went to bed and I thought, “NEVER AGAIN!” I really thought I messed it up and it was a lot of (steamy) work. I woke up the next morning, released it from the pan and ate it. WOW! It was perfect. The flavor is smooth and delicious. The taste and texture are better than the steamed layer cake I purchased in Chinatown. I made this for a friend who loves it. I can’t wait until he tries it this evening. Thank you! (and I’ll probably make it again)
allergic to coconut:( can i sub it out for almond milk?
I think you can š
[…] And, how could I forget? My friend Amelia made the delicious (and beautiful!) Indonesian layered, jello-like dessert, Pandan cake. […]
If I donāt have pandan leaves, only extract, would this work? If so, how much extract would I use for 1 cup of water? Thank you!
I would start with 2 tsp and add more if you want more flavor and greener color.
I made these with your recipe this last Saturday and your recipe is the perfect texture, taste and sweetness! Thank you for the recipe!!