The Legend of the Sticky Mochi Dumplings: Chè trôi nước

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"Touch magic. Pass it on." 
— Jane Yolen, Touch Magic: Fantasy, Faerie & Folklore in the Literature of Childhood

Chè trôi nước & Chè trôi nước bột báng lá dứa: 
Sticky Mochi Dumplings & Pandan Tapioca Dumplings in a Sweet Ginger Syrup 
- I love the tapioca dumplings :) they look like soft jade pillows

 Myths and legends are abundant in Vietnamese culture, and they usually shape the basis of our moral boundaries. These oral traditions often underlay the origin of a cultural belief, practice and/or, often enough, of a culinary dish. Amusingly, while they are passed down from generation to generation, storytellers are generally female. As my Dad explains it, "Ask your mom or your aunt - they probably know the stories of our dishes. We men just eat them."

Learning about folklore was a treat during childhood, especially during Vietnamese school. I mostly learnt to read Vietnamese through them. As children I guess we have this instinctive wonder for all things fantastic and unmistakably unreal, and I was no exception. After years and years of retelling, the shape of those ancient tales have changed: like spun sugar crystallized to a hard candy, each sentence a gossamer sweet thread of satiny sheen. I was a 12 years-old at the top of my 1m50 (still am... I haven't grown much taller since ...snif), and I would pop those fairytales in my mouth and savor each of them like a fruit drop.

 This is the story of one of my favorite Vietnamese desserts: chè trôi nước. Literally translated, it means "Dessert drifting in water" ("Chè" = dessert; "Trôi" = drifting; "Nước" = water). A more recognizable description would be "Dumplings filled with sweet mung bean paste, with a shell made from mochi (glutinous rice) flour." Those mochi balls are usually served warm, bobbing gently in a ginger syrup and garnished with toasted sesame seeds and a splash of coconut cream. 

Chè trôi nước: Sticky Mochi Dumplings in a Sweet Ginger Syrup

 It has some similarities to Chinese Tangyuan and, like that dessert, it is also traditionally eating during the Winter Solstice festival. However, the taste is distinctively different. 

More accurately, this is the legend of those mochi balls - called bánh trôi. "Bánh", in Vietnamese, loosely refers to a wide variety of savoury or sweet cakes and bread. There are many Vietnamese dishes which use a basis of mochi dumplings, so this tale isn't specifically for the ones in ginger syrup. 

It is said that a long, long time ago, on the day of the Winter Solstice, the wife of a beggar froze to death. The husband had no money to bury his wife, and as a last resort had to sell his daughter to a wealthy family. You have to understand, funeral rites represent an important and traditional way of life to the Vietnamese people. A proper burial is an essential precondition for the deceased soul to transition to its next life. Otherwise, it is believed that the soul will wander aimlessly in pain.  

The daughter was heartbroken at the idea of being separated from what was left of her family, so the father decided to salvage and beg for enough money so that they could share a last meal. He received just enough for one sticky glutinous rice ball. The mochi dumpling was torn in half, and as they both chewed in mournful silence, the father tried to console his daughter. "Today, we might be separated, like the halves of this dumpling ball, but remember that they used to stick together, like our family. In a close future, when life gets better, I will come back for you, and this time to represent our reunion we will each eat a whole mochi dumpling."  

Three years passed, and while the daughter remained in her new family to work, her father still did not return. However, the daughter still believed in him and thought that perhaps, perhaps life was still not treating him too kindly, but that soon enough, he would come back. Remembering her father's last words before they parted, she asked her host if they could prepare mochi dumplings and affix them to the front door as an offering to the Door God, and to guide her father "home". The owner of the house agreed, and so the daugther prepared two of the biggest and roundest mochi dumplings and placed them on each side of the house's door frame. 

Another year passed... And another, and another. And still the father did not return. However, every year on the Winter Solstice day, the daughter persisted in making those 2 mochi dumplings and placing them beside the door. Over time, the story of her filial piety and dedication spread through the neighboring villages and pulled everyone's heartstrings. In response, people started imitating her, making glutinous rice balls and eating them on the day of the Winter Solstice. As the story got distilled into legend, eating bánh trôi became a symbol for family union. 

I will be sharing two recipes: one for Chè trôi nước, and a little variation of it where the dumpling skins are made with tiny tapioca pearls. I have discovered this second version of the dessert when I traveled to Cambodia, and I was so delighted by this new mouthfeel that I decided to experiment a little bit and try out a recipe with pandan flavoring. 

Apparently, there is also a Vietnamese version called Chè trôi nước bột báng ("bột báng"= tapioca), however I have not had any luck finding it when I was travelling in Vietnam. 

Chè trôi nước & Chè trôi nước bột báng lá dứa: 
Sticky Mochi Dumplings & Pandan Tapioca Dumplings in a Sweet Ginger Syrup

Sticky Mochi Dumplings in Sweet Ginger Syrup (Chè trôi nước): 2 Variations

Ingredients: 

Sweet Ginger Syrup: 
2-inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled, roughly crushed and sliced (I happen to love ginger. Reduce to 1-inch if you find the flavor too intense)
350g palm sugar or brown sugar
6 cups water
(Optional) 2 pandan leaves (if frozen, thaw them first)
Filling:
1 1/2 cup peeled split mung bean, soaked overnight (about 1x16 oz bag)
1 tsp salt
2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
5 shallots, thinly sliced
2 green onions, chopped
4 tablespoons coconut milk (Subs.: I favor coconut-flavored soy milk)
Mochi skin (Double these ingredients if you're only making mochi skins, and not the tapioca skin as well):
8 oz (1/2 bag) glutinous rice flour
1 cup warm water
Tapioca skin (Double these ingredients if you're only making tapioca skins, and not the mochi skin as well):
225g tapioca pearls (the small white ones, not the big ones for boba)
2 tsp tapioca starch
1 1/2 cup pandan juice, warmed up (See recipe down below) OR 1 1/2 hot water + 1 tablespoon pandan paste (concentrated extract)
1/4 cup white granulated sugar 
1/8 tsp salt
Pandan juice (Skip if you won't be making tapioca skins):
1 packet pandan leaves, fresh or frozen
250 ml water
Accompaniments: 
(Optional) Toasted sesame seeds
(Optional) Coconut cream

Preparation:

Pandan juice (Skip if you won't be making tapioca skins):
1. Peel off the tough parts from the base, and get rid of the old and dried out leaves.
2. Rinse well.
3. Snip the washed leaves into 2 cm pieces and put in blender. Add the water.
4. Pulse the pandan mixture for 3-5 minutes until it forms a pulpy mash. 
5. In a large bowl, pour the pandan mash over a cheesecloth or a sieve, and squeeze to extract as much juice as you can. You want to get about 1 1/2 cup of pandan juice. If you do not reach that volume, repeat the blending process with the paste you just squeezed, and add the missing amount. Set aside. 
6. (Optional) If you want to obtain more pandan juice, repeat the blending process. For one pandan package, you should be able to obtain flavor for 3 blending cycles (although it will be weaker than the first blend). 

Tapioca skin:
1. Place the tapioca pearls in a large bowl. Set aside.
2. Depending on what you chose, pour the pandan juice or water + pandan extract in a pot, and bring to a boil. As it is heating up, add the sugar and salt. As soon as it starts boiling, remove from heat and pour into the bowl of tapioca pearls. Mix well. Set aside for 1h-1h30, or until the tapioca pearls have absorbed all the liquid. 
3. Add tapioca starch to the bowl of softened tapioca pearls. Be careful not to crush the pearls as you fold the tapioca starch in. 
4. Cover and set aside until needed.

Sweet Ginger Syrup:
1. If using, scrape pandan leaves with the tines of a fork to release their flavor, then tie them into a loose knot (just enough so that they don't come apart when simmered).
2. In a pot, place the ginger, sugar, water and pandan knots. Bring to a boil for about 5 minutes or until the sugar has completely dissolved. 
3. Lower the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes to get all the flavors to steep out. Turn off the heat and set aside, covered until needed (no need to refrigerate)

Filling:
1. Rinse and drain the split mung beans that you have soaked overnight.
2. Then, put mung beans in a microwave-safe bowl, add 4 tablespoons of water and process with microwave for 2 minutes. Take the beans out and try to mash with a spoon after every 2 minutes. Repeat this step until beans can easily be crushed with your fingertips. Add more water, 1 teaspoon at the time, in between microwave cycles if mung beans start drying out. 
Alternatively, you can also steam them in a rice cooker. When beans are softened enough, set aside and allow them to cool.    
3. In a pot, drizzle a bit of oil and caramelize the shallots. When they're a nice golden brown, take them out and drop in the green onions. Sautée them only briefly. Set aside.
4. By now, the mung beans should have cooled down sufficiently. With a rubber spatula or a potato masher, work the beans into a smooth paste. It should have the texture of mashed potatoes, although it might not be as light. 
5. Then, transfer the mashed mung beans into a large bowl and add the shallots, green onions, sugar, salt and, if using, the coconut milk or coconut-flavored soymilk. Mix well.
6. Divide mung bean mixture into scoops of 1 tablespoon and roll the filling into balls (Tip: you may find it easier to form the balls if the mixture is refrigerated 1-2h). Cover loosely with a plastic wrap and set aside. 

Mochi skin:
1. In a large bowl, add glutinous rice flour and warm water. Mix well until it forms a dough with Play-Doh consistency. 
2. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and only uncover as you need as this dough dried and toughens quickly. Keeping your hands wet will help to soften the dough. 

Assembling the mochi/tapioca dumplings: 
1. Start with the mochi skin as this dough will dry out quickly once prepared. 
2. Pinch small portions of mochi dough, roll into a ball and flatten on the palm of your hands so that you get a nice disk. It should be 1 1/2 bigger than your mung bean balls.  
3. Place a mung bean ball in the center of the dough and wrap mochi skin around it. Pinch the ends together and gently roll the dumpling in your palms to smooth out the edges and ensure that they are cohesive. 
4. Repeat process for 50% of the mung bean balls. 
5. If you have excess mochi dough, roll those into small balls - they're soft and chewy once boiled, and are a nice addition to the finished dessert even if they do not contain any filling!
6. Use tapioca skin for the remaining 50% of the mung bean balls.
7. Scoop up a mounded tablespoon of tapioca pearls (aim for about 1 1/2 the size of your mung bean ball). Keep a small bowl of water close by as you will need to keep your hands wet. 
8. Flatten the tapioca pearl mixture into a disk (it won't be a perfect circle and will be thicker than the mochi skin - tapioca will be harder to work with), and add a ball of mung bean filling in the center. 
9. Wrap the tapioca skin around your mung bean filling and start making circular motions with your palms. You want to achieve a closed tapioca sphere. If there are some bald spots, add a tiny bit of tapioca pearl mixture and press it into the rest of the tapioca skin with wet fingers. 
10. Repeat for the rest of the mung bean balls.
11. You can use the remaining tapioca pearls to make small balls without the filling too, but those will be harder to chew than the mochi balls. 

Cooking the dumplings:
1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.
2. Add the mochi and tapioca dumplings into the boiling pot, but make sure not to overcrowd it. There should still be space between the dumplings. Stir occasionally to make sure that they don't stick to the bottom or to each other.
3. Let the mochi balls cook for about 5 minutes, and the tapioca balls for 10 minutes. Both will rise and bob to the surface once cooked, but the tapioca balls may need additional simmering time to soften.  
4. Remove the dumplings to a colander and rinse with cold water. Drain and add to the warm sweet ginger syrup. 
5. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and drizzle a bit of coconut milk if you want. Enjoy! 

About the Author

Half-baker. Half-bookworm. Full-fledged daydreamer.

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