Che Khoai Lang (Vietnamese Sweet Potato Coconut Sweet Soup)
A thin, gently sweet Vietnamese coconut soup with soft cubes of sweet potato, pandan, ginger and tapioca pearls. Serve it warm in cool weather or cold over crushed ice.
Servings 6 servings
Ingredients
For the Soup
- 1 ½ pounds sweet potato (khoai lang) peeled, cut into ¾-inch cubes
- 4 cups water
- 3 ounces Vietnamese rock sugar (duong phen) or ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 leaves pandan knotted, or ½ teaspoon pandan extract
- 4 thin slices fresh ginger
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
For the Coconut Broth
- 13.5 ounces full fat coconut milk one can
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
For the Pearls and Finish
- ⅓ cup small tapioca pearls (bot bang) or sago
- 2 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds or crushed roasted peanuts
- crushed ice if serving cold
Instructions
Cook the Tapioca Pearls
- Bring at least 4 cups of water to a boil in a small pot. Add the tapioca pearls and stir once so they do not stick.
- Boil 8 to 12 minutes until the pearls are nearly clear with a small white dot in the center. Turn off the heat, cover and rest 5 minutes until the dot disappears.
- Drain, rinse under cold water, and hold in a bowl with a splash of cool water until you assemble.
Simmer the Sweet Potato
- Combine the cubed sweet potato, water, rock sugar, knotted pandan leaves, ginger slices and salt in a pot.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer for 12 to 18 minutes, until a cube gives way easily to a spoon but still holds its shape. Stir as little as possible.
Warm the Coconut and Combine
- In a separate small pot, warm the coconut milk with the sugar and salt over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove it as soon as it steams and never let it boil hard.
- Pour the warm coconut milk into the sweet potato pot and stir gently once. Remove the pandan knots and ginger slices.
- Add the drained tapioca pearls and stir gently. Let the pot stand off the heat 5 to 10 minutes so the sweet potato absorbs the coconut broth.
- Serve warm in bowls, or chill at least 3 hours and serve over crushed ice. Finish each portion with toasted sesame seeds or crushed peanuts.
Notes
- Cook the pearls in their own pot. Tapioca cooked in the soup sheds starch and turns the coconut broth cloudy and gluey.
- Use full fat coconut milk. Light coconut milk leaves the soup thin and flat.
- This is a drinkable soup, not a pudding. It should pour off a spoon like thin cream.
- Too thick: loosen with hot water or coconut milk a tablespoon at a time. Too thin: mash three or four sweet potato cubes against the side of the pot.
- Substitutions: granulated sugar for rock sugar, pandan extract for fresh leaves, sago for tapioca pearls.
- Storage: 3 days refrigerated. It thickens when cold, so loosen it before serving. Do not freeze.