Greetings all members of Foodie Bee Hive, sweet in Cambodia is a little different from dessert in other country. Today, I’d like to introduce you one of the most delicious and popular Khmer desserts calls Chak K’tes. For homemade cooking, instead of being served at the end of the meal or in the evening, Cambodian desserts are most frequently enjoyed mid-morning. Instead of being served as a family after meal, the desserts are bought and enjoyed in markets as you are doing your shopping around local market or town.

INGREDIENTS 🥥

• Coconut milk
• Banana
• Ball tapioca
• Colorful tapioca
• Condensed milk
• Salt

INSTRUCTIONS 🧭

All of these ingredients, I got from my local market. The coconut milk is fresh, they actually refine it from machine today. In the local open-air markets, dessert ingredients are usually displayed near each other, so it easy for me to find. I think you can also find it in Asian store or grocery store that near you.

Step 1

Soaking tapioca pearl and colorful tapioca about 20-30 minutes. The banana dessert texture just won't turn out right if we avoid soaking the tapioca pearls first. Recipes often say to soak for 12 hours, but you can cut that down to 30 minutes and still achieve the creamy that makes tapioca smooth and so delicious.

Step 2

Peel all the bananas, you can use banana as many as you prefer, then soak in the water which is mixed with 1/2 tablespoon of salt to prevent it getting black and remove the dirt.

Step 3

Cut all the banana into 2-3 cm pieces and leave to soak in another 5 cups of water with 1 teaspoon of salt to let the bitterness of banana out. Keep cut bananas in salted water for another 10-15 minutes then drain.

Step 4

Now, let’s pour all the coconut milk into one large pot, I use about 500g of coconut milk. Some people add some water while cooking the coconut milk, but I prefer not to add water because I want it thicker. Cook it over medium heat wait until it boil hard.

Step 5

After it boil, add the tapioca. Bring it to a boil again, cover, and turn the heat down to medium low. Cook covered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. After 15 minutes, turn off the heat, keep the pot covered, and allow to sit for another 15 minutes. Make sure that you carefully stirring it again and again to avoid burning and sticky.

Step 6

Once coconut milk begins boiling again, add all the bananas. Cook until bananas are softer. They should absorb some coconut milk during the cooking process. This time stir it slowly so that the banana won’t break.

You should always be there near the kitchen so that you can easily smell it to avoid burning. After 5 minutes, add a little salt into the pot. The salt used to make this dessert or thicker. I used about 1/4 tablespoon of salt, make sure you don’t put too much.

Step 7

Then add about 1 cup of sugar into the cooking pot too. You can use as much sugar as you prefer.

Step 8

Add the condensed milk, condensed milk will make the recipe become fragrant and yummier.

Stir carefully until well combined. Continue boiling for another 5 minutes over medium heat. Serve hot, at room temperature or chilled.

Cambodian Banana Tapioca Desserts is Khmer dessert and it really easy to make with just a few ingredients you can find in local area, some banana will turn black if you don’t boil it first, I use the regular banana from the grocery store. It is best to use white small tapioca. The pudding will be thickened when it is cold, make sure you put enough water as in the recipe.