I'm circling back to corn. As I mentioned, seeing and tasting the amazing fresh corn available right now had me thinking about different ways of cooking with it. One of the things that popped into my head was the memory of a Vietnamese cooking show I'd seen where the host was scraping corn and using the corn milk to make some kind of sweet dessert soup (I don't remember what it was exactly). That got me searching for Vietnamese dessert soups featuring corn and I ended up here with a delicious one, called "Che Bap" ("che" refers to a sweet dessert soup or pudding, and "bap" means corn).
Dessert soups are very common and beloved in Asian culture - both hot and cold. Once in a while, you might find an Asian dessert house that serves only that. I love nearly all varieties of these soups and I can now add this one to the list!
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| A chilled dessert soup, made with fresh corn kernels, light coconut milk, tapioca pearls, and topped with toasted sesame seeds |
So this isn't the recipe I vaguely recall from the cooking program but I'm happy that it inspired this discovery. This Vietnamese corn pudding, or dessert soup, features fresh corn kernels as well as coconut milk and small tapioca pearls. When I hear there's coconut milk involved in a dessert soup, I'm fairly confident it's going to be good. In fact, coconut milk and tapioca pearls make a great base for many kinds of dessert soups.
I used light coconut milk in this recipe. It may sound silly but I'm quite proud of that because I did it despite seeing recipes that specifically said not to. I'm a very reluctant rule-breaker, you see! I used Trader Joe's light coconut milk, which I really like and have had a lot of success cooking with. It's not as thick and rich as regular coconut milk but it's still so flavorful and fragrant. And get this: you're consuming 70% less fat and 65% less calories by using the light version! I didn't miss the extra fat at all, and you're not sacrificing flavor or texture. In fact, you don't feel weighed down after eating this.
I had some tapioca starch on standby in case I needed to thicken the soup with a slurry. I decided I didn't need it and I'm glad I held back. The soup is relatively thin when it's hot off the stove but this kind of soup made with coconut milk and tapioca pearls thickens pretty significantly after it's been refrigerated. While you can certainly enjoy this hot or warm (both good), I prefer it cold in this instance. It is summer, after all.
After it's chilled, the soup is thick but not so thick that you need to dilute it with water (what you'd likely need to do if you went with the full-fat coconut milk...so you see, the light version actually works better!). I wasn't sure I'd like the toasted sesame seeds suggested as a topping for this che bap but I did. It adds a nice nuttiness to the sweet soup. And this is indeed a lovely dessert soup, mostly sweetened by the fresh corn kernels. The natural sweetness from the fresh corn was seriously intense!
After it's chilled, the soup is thick but not so thick that you need to dilute it with water (what you'd likely need to do if you went with the full-fat coconut milk...so you see, the light version actually works better!). I wasn't sure I'd like the toasted sesame seeds suggested as a topping for this che bap but I did. It adds a nice nuttiness to the sweet soup. And this is indeed a lovely dessert soup, mostly sweetened by the fresh corn kernels. The natural sweetness from the fresh corn was seriously intense!
