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Shwe yin aye

Shwe yin aye: Burmese iced coconut dessert with sago, jelly and sticky rice

Shwe yin aye, roughly 'golden heart cooler', is what Yangon drinks during the scorching weeks of Thingyan, the April water festival, when stalls set up along the streets to hand it out. It's a bowl of sweet, lightly salted coconut milk over crushed ice, filled with chewy sago pearls, cubes of green agar jelly, a scoop of sticky rice and, surprisingly, a few pieces of soft white bread that soak up the coconut. Chef's tip: make the jelly, sago and sticky rice in the morning and chill everything; assembled cold, the bowl stays refreshing to the last spoonful.
Total time
65 min
Difficulty
medium
Serves
6
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Ingredients

Serves6

For the agar jelly

For the sago and sticky rice

For the coconut syrup

To serve

Method

0/5 done
  1. Step 1: For the jelly, whisk 2 tsp agar agar powder into 2 cups water in a pan, bring to a boil over a medium heat and boil for 2 minutes, stirring, until it dissolves completely. Stir in 2 ⅛ oz sugar and ½ tsp pandan extract, pour into a shallow dish and leave to set for 30 minutes, then cut into small cubes.

    35 min
  2. Step 2: Bring a pan of water to a rolling boil, add 2 ⅛ oz small sago or tapioca pearls and cook for 10–12 minutes, stirring often, until the pearls are clear with no white dot in the centre. Drain and rinse under cold water. A common mistake is adding the sago before the water boils hard; it clumps into one sticky lump.

    12 min
  3. Step 3: Drain 3 ½ oz glutinous (sticky) rice and steam it in a cloth-lined steamer over a high heat for 20–25 minutes, until glossy, translucent and chewy.

    25 min
  4. Step 4: Warm 3 ¼ cups coconut milk with 3 ½ oz palm sugar or light brown sugar, ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp ground cardamom over a low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves; don't let it boil. Cool, then chill.

    5 min
  5. Step 5: To serve, put a spoonful each of jelly, sago and sticky rice in each bowl with a few squares of 2 slices soft white bread (vegan). Pile on 1 ⅓ lb crushed ice and pour over the cold coconut syrup. Eat straight away, while icy.

Nutrition per serving

Calories
380 kcal
Protein
3 g
Carbs
50 g
Fat
20 g
Fibre
1 g

Nutrition values are estimates.

K
Recipe by

KrazyBadal

All recipes by this chef →

Good to know

How long does shwe yin aye take?
About 65 minutes in total: 20 minutes to prepare and 45 minutes to cook.
How many people does it serve?
6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
Is it vegan?
Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
What can I use instead of sugar?
Caster sugar, same amount.
What can I use instead of coconut milk?
Single cream, same amount (not dairy free).

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