Black Beans in Coconut Milk - Tua Dum Gang Buawd ถั่วดำแกงบวด

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Black Beans in Coconut Milk is a dessert that Thais enjoy year round, unlike seasonal desserts like mango sticky rice and durian sticky rice. Black Beans in Coconut Milk is versatile enough to have other ingredients added to make variations. If you have sticky rice left-over from mango sticky rice, add a spoon of the sweetened sticky rice to the dessert to get a new texture and flavor.

The black beans should be tender without the skin broken. The coconut milk sauce should be slightly purplish, not white and smooth without curds. You should be able to taste the palm sugar sweetness, which is distinct from cane sugar. The palm sugar is creamy and nutty.

3-4 Servings, Prep Time: 15 Minutes, Total Time: 23 Hours

1 cup coconut milk
1/2 - 1/3 cup Palm Sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
water
1/2 cup Black Beans

Tips and Techniques

Rinse soaked black beans really well to get rid of the dirt and sand.
When adding the reserved beans water, avoid disturbing the water so as to keep any dirt on the bottom of the pot. You may feel grit on the bottom of the pot when stirring.
Beans must be cooked until soft prior to adding any seasoning such as salt or sugar. Uncooked beans that are cooked with salt and/or sugar will not become tender.
Cane sugar can substitute for palm sugar, but will give the dessert a different taste. Palm sugar tastes sweet, creamy and nutty at the same time, while cane sugar is only sweet.
When working with natural ingredients like palm sugar, its sugar content may vary from time to time. The only way to get a good consisting tasting dessert, is by tasting the end result. Just don't "taste" so much there's none left for everyone else.
Keep stirring the coconut milk to prevent curdling. Curds will show pretty well with desserts like this that have only a few ingredients.

Method

Prepping

Soak black beans overnight. For ½ cup of black beans, add 2 cups of water or more. Make sure there are at least 2 inches of water above the beans because they will expand and absorb water.

Cooking

Boil black beans in enough water to cover the beans until tender, about 25-30 minutes. Taste the beans to see if they are soft. When they are tender, turn of the heat. Drain the black beans and reserve the boiling bean water.

Add coconut milk, palm sugar and salt to a pot. Bring the coconut milk mixture to a simmer while stirring constantly to proven over-boil and curdling of the coconut milk. The coconut milk now looks off white to yellowish depending on the color of your palm sugar. Let it simmer for 2-4 minutes.

Add the cooked black beans to the coconut milk. Add 1 cup of reserving bean water to the pot. Let it boil again. With the addition of the bean juice, the coconut milk should turn purplish. Let the dessert boil again. Taste and see how you like the sweetness. Add more palm sugar if you'd like your dessert quite sweet. Add more bean water, if it's too sweet.

Serve warm or at room temperature.