Steamed Pandan Mung Bean Layer cake (斑兰绿豆九层糕）

Steamed layer cake is popular snack in Southeast Asian dessert. When I was a little girl, I really enjoyed seeing this cake in different colour layers. Most of them are made in three colours which are green, red, and white with coloring.

Today I am sharing with you how to make this pandan and mung bean steamed layered cake. This dessert is soft and has a glutinous texture if you are using an accurate ratio formula. They are made with natural green that comes from the fresh pandan leaves and mung bean puree.

This layered cake will have 9 layers in total with green and yellow in colour. It’s a very eye-catching dessert but also a very time-consuming recipe since it takes time to cook each layer. One of the confusing parts of this recipe is how much batter to add for each layer and what type of pan to use to make the layer evenly.

I am using a 28cm x 20cm x 5cm rectangular gratin dish which the four corners are not in 90° angle. You can use an 8” square pan as well. You might need to add extra liquid for each layer if you're using a slightly larger steaming pan, which you may not get a nine layers of steam cake.

Give a good stir to the batter before you pour or ladle on the pan, because the flour tends to settle at the bottom after a while. This layer cake comes with 9 layers. So, I divided the mung bean batter into 5 portions and the pandan batter into 4 portions with measuring cups. I measured 200ml each portion for the mung bean batter and 130ml each portion for the pandan batter. Beginning with the pandan batter and end with the pandan batter as well.

For the mung bean batter, I add one table spoon of powder to make the batter a little bit more yellow in colour. You may replace it with yellow food colouring.

Check to see if each layer is done, you can test it with a toothpick. If the toothpick stands up straight on the batter, the cake is done.

Don't wait until the water in your steamer dries out; check to see if you need to refill it. Wait until the layer that is still steaming is finished before adding the water if you know you will need to refill your steamer before pouring the next layer. And be sure to fill it with hot water.

This dessert can be made in other flavours such as pandan and coconut, ube and coconut, or mung bean and coconut. It does not need to be mung bean and coconut.

INGREDIENTS

Mung Bean Layer

(A)Mung bean puree

100g mung beans

100ml water (to cook the mung beans)

(B) Sugar syrup

160ml water

100g sugar

1/8 tsp salt

(C)

100g tapioca starch

1 tbsp instant custard powder 

170ml coconut milk

METHODS

1.Wash and clean the mung beans until the water is clear, let it soak with water overnight.

2.Wash the soaked mung beans again and put them in a steaming pan and pour 100ml water into the pan. Steam the mung beans over high heat for 20 minutes until the beans can be easily broken apart with your fingers. Let it cool.

3. Combine the water, sugar, and salt into a saucepan. Boil until the sugar dissolves.

4. Place the cooked mung beans, sugar syrup, coconut milk, tapioca starch, and rice flour into a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth, Strain the batter to achieve a smooth batter. The batter is now ready. 

Pandan Layer

(A)Pandan sugar syrup

180ml pandan water (180ml water blend with 2 pandan leaves)

135g sugar

1/8 tsp salt

 

(B)

210g tapioca starch

25g rice flour

300ml coconut milk

METHOD

1. Combine the pandan leaves and water. Blend until a fine pulp. Squeeze the pandan pulp and sieve out the 180ml pandan juice.

2. Combine the pandan water, sugar, and salt into a saucepan. Boil until the sugar dissolves. Let it cool.

3. Place the pandan sugar syrup, coconut milk, tapioca starch, and rice flour into a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Strain the batter to achieve a smooth batter. The batter is now ready.

STEAMING

1.Prepare the steamer by bringing the water to boil. Brush some oil overt the steaming pan or dish. preheat it by steaming it empty over boiling water for about 5 minutes.

2. Beginning with the pandan batter, pour 130ml of pandan batter into the heated pan and steam at high heat for about 4 -5 minutes or until batter is cooked. Then add 200ml of mung bean batter onto it and steam for another 4-5 minutes.

3. Repeat this sequence until you get 9 layers.  Test with a toothpick to see if the cake is done.

4. Once all the layers are cooked, turn off the heat and remove the cake from the steamer.

5. Wait until the cake completely cools down before removing the cake from the pan. Loosen the cake from the side with hand. When ready to cut, use an oiled knife or plastic knife to cut to prevent sticking.