Thai Candied Cassava (Montad Chuame)

1 kg cassava (unpeeled)
300g brown cane sugar*
250 ml water

*I used the brown sugar pieces from China

1. Cut the cassava into 4 or 5 cm chunks and peel the skin off. Wash clean.

2. Put sugar and water into a medium-sized pot and heat until sugar dissolves (it is okay to put everything together at once too, I've tried it) and then add the cassava. Cook over low heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours (Appon's recipe says 2 hours) until the cassava is candied and translucent.You can turn the cassava once in a while during cooking although too much turning at the later stages will break the cassava up, so be careful.

3. If the sugar syrup looks thick, just dish the cassava out and pour the sugar syrup into a small bowl to serve. If the sugar syrup looks thin, you can increase the heat to high (you can take the cassava pieces out first so they won't burn) and let it thicken and caramelize. Remember the sugar syrup will thicken further upon cooling so don't cook it till it's too thick.

4. Let the cassava cool and serve with coconut cream and sugar syrup. You can serve montad chuame at room temperature or chilled.

Coconut Cream
1 large coconut, grated
300 ml water
1 heaped teaspoon rice flour
1/4 t salt

1. Add 150 ml water to the grated coconut, 'massage' the coconut well with your hands and extract the milk. Add the remaining water to the grated coconut again and do the same to get a thinner milk. Strain both thick and thin milk into a small pot, add the rice flour and salt.

2. Stir the milk over low heat until it thickens slightly and coats the back of your spoon. Do not let the cream boil or it will form lumps and become oily. The cream will thicken further upon cooling. Let cream cool.