Bi Tua

Bi tua is a sweet reed with a bubblegum like flavour and green colour used in Thai dishes to add a unique flavour to the dessert. You can see it in the background of the photograph.

Ingredients
120 gms Mung Bean Flour (Pang Tur)
120 gms Cassava Starch
120 gms Tapioca Flour
4-5 Bi Tua Leaves
1000 ml Water
200 ml Coconut Milk
600 gms Sugar

Preparation

1. Mix the two flours and starch together.
2. Place the bi-tua leaves and water in a blender and liquidize. Then filter the water (to remove the leaf pulp).
3. Boil the water with sugar until the sugar is dissolved.
4. Leave to cool.
5. Take 400ml of the bi tua syrup, add the coconut milk
6. Split the flour in two equal portions. Mix one portion with the bi-tua and coconut milk, and one portion with the remaining bi-tua water. One part will become clear, one layer will be cloudy, we use these to make layers in the dessert.
7. Put a foil tray in a steamer, and get it hot.
8. Ladle in a shallow layer of the clear mixture and steam it for 3-5 minutes to just cook it.
9. Next ladle in the cloudy layer (the mixture with coconut milk) and steam that for 3-5 minutes to cook it.
10. Keep doing this until the metal tray is filled up and the dessert is cooked.
11. Leave to cool in the fridge, cut into diamonds and lay out of the plate.