A classic Thai dessert, found in every market. If you like mochi and coconut milk, you'll love this!
In Thailand, khanom chan translates to "layered dessert" and can actually be many flavours: butterfly pea flower, Thai tea, even coffee! But the traditional flavour is using pandan leaf, or vanilla grass. As with many ESEA desserts, this one is vegan and gluten free! It's a little time consuming to make but the result is so fun and impressive, it's always worth it.
Khanom chan traditionally has 9 layers as the word for 9 (เก้า-Kêā) sounds similar to the word for progress (ก้าวหน้า-K̂āwh̄n̂ā). Therefore, it's very popular to feature this dessert in ceremonies as it is considered auspicious.
After speaking to my mum about it while trying to get a recipe, she told me that my Yai (maternal grandmother) used to make it using rice that she would hand grind into flour! She only used rice flour so it had a less translucent appearance. Of course, measurements were made by eye and unfortunately such a traditional technique died with her. However, YouTube has been my mum's go to for Thai dessert recipes and after researching different recipes I'm impressed by how easy this actually was! This recipe uses arrowroot flour, which gives the texture a unique chewiness that my mum said reminded her of the kind she used to eat as a child. Nowadays, market stalls will use only rice and tapioca flour since arrowroot flour makes the dessert more pricey. I have noticed that omitting the arrowroot flour makes the layers less smooth and harder to separate - dessert Cheestrings anyone? The satisfaction level is definitely similar with this recipe.
Versions of this dessert are popular throughout Southeast Asia. In Vietnam they have Bánh da lợn which is also features mung beans. The Indonesia they have Kueh lapis which is in turn popular in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. I'm sure I've missed out a lot more influences! Let me know if you know of other examples!
So good I ate a piece before I finished taking pictures!
To make this dessert you need:
300 g white sugar
100 ml water
170 g tapioca starch
50 g arrowroot flour
20 g rice flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 can (400 ml) coconut milk
30 ml pandan extract - see recipe
30 ml jasmine water - 1/4 tsp jasmine extract in 30 ml water is the easiest work around for this
-Boil the sugar and water to make a syrup. Once the sugar has completely dissolved, turn off the heat and let cool.
-Preheat the tray in the steamer so it's ready to use once you've made the batter. I used a square 6X6 inch tray.
-Wrap a towel around the lid of your steamer. This helps to catch any water drops that threaten to drop into your dessert and disrupt how smooth and even your layers become. Otherwise, make sure you regularly wipe the inside of your steamer lid!
-Mix together the flours and salt, then slowly mix in the coconut milk. Make sure you remove as many of the lumps as possible at this stage.
-Stir in the syrup. I slowly pour it in from a height to make sure the syrup is cool enough and won't cook the batter. Again, make sure to remove any lumps and pass the batter through a sieve.
-Divide the batter equally into two.
-Add the pandan extract to one portion and the jasmine water to the other. Mix well.
-Ladle in the first layer. I try and make the layers as thin as possible but keep track of how much you add to make one layer so that you can keep it consistent to have even layers. I start with green because I think it looks better having the top green when you're making nine layers.
-Steam until translucent. If your pan is hot enough this should only take a few mins.
-Ladle in the next layer. This time it will be the white layer. Pop the lid on and steam until translucent.
-Keep repeating this step alternating the layers until you have 9 layers. Mix the batter each time before you add a layer. Once you add the last layer, steam the dessert for 10 mins.
-Remove from the steamer and let cool before cutting and enjoying!
Note: normally this recipe produces a lighter green khanom. This one is darker because I used pandan extract that was a couple of days older than normal and I managed to concentrate the extract more. (I'll more than likely update these photos at some point!)
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