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Friday, November 1, 2013

Lookchoop (Thai Mung Bean Marzipan) 泰国王室小甜点


After last visit to Bangkok, I have been wanting to make this Thai dessert- Look Choop..Finally I spent about 4hrs to make it happened ! According to here, Look Choop was a Thai dessert that originated in the royal palaces of ancient Siam. Each of Look Choop shaped into mini size of fruits or vegetables and painted colourfully, as it was important that foods look attractive and draw the attention from royal members. I had this Thai dessert when I was a kid, can't remember who went to Hat Yai and brought back this for us.




 
This was the original Lookchoop I saw in Bangkok
 
My version ...
 
 
First prepared the mung bean filling..
 
 
Then shape it ..

 
Colour it ..
 

 
 
Last coat with agar-agar mixture for two times..
 
The first day, I made six difference shapes.
1. Corn on the cob

 
2. Cermai (Phyllanthus ) , a type of local fruit that usually peoples use to make pickled..

 
3. mangosteen 

 
4. carrot

 
5. mango

 
6. should be strawberry, but it turned out look more like cherry, LOL..

 
The next day, continued with another four patterns.
7. watermelon


 
8. orange

 
9. papaya

 
10. pomegranate

 
How it taste like? The filling is similar like Ang Ku Kueh's filling that using mung beans with a hint of coconut smell. The outer skin is coating with agar-agar, but it tasted crunchy, very good indeed. Homemade Lookchoop is less sweet since we can control the level of sweetness..and this recipe I made it tasted exactly same like those sold at Bangkok..

 
Desmond brought some to school for the Children's day celebration, it seem like even teacher never seen this type of Thai dessert before..

Making this dessert is quite additive ^_^, next time I want to try with natural food colouring, the artificial colouring used was quite scary ..
And my son Lucas suggested me to make it taste like real thing, corn must taste like corn, I fainted ,LOL..
For your information, the agar-agar mixture in this recipe can yield more than 85pcs, so I would suggest you to increase the mung beans amount. Also suggest to split cooking agar-agar mixture into two batches since it requires to dip Lookchoop in agar-agar mixture for two times.

Lookchoop (Thai Mung Bean Marzipan)
(recipe source: reference made to here, by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)
*makes appx 85pcs with each of the weight ranging from 6g – 8g

Filling ingredients
250g split yellow mung beans/green beans (clean and wash, soak for 2-4hrs, steam for 30mins)
lc4 1 cup fresh coconut milk
½ cup caster sugar

Outer skin ingredients
3 cups water
4tbsp sugar
2tbsp agar-agar powder
 
Food colouring-red, orange, lemon yellow, green, purple or etc

Tools- toothpick, styrofoam, Chinese Calligraphy brush, drinking water to mix with food colouring, few small containers to put the colouring, fresh lemon leaves (optional)

Method

  1. Mix steamed mung beans with coconut milk and sugar in a food processor, process till fine paste.
  2. Transfer mung bean paste into a small pot, stir with a wooden spatula over low heat till became thick paste or until it don’t stick to your dry hands, make sure you stir the mixture all the time.
  3. Remove the ready mung bean paste and put into a container, lay a piece of cling film on top of the paste as to prevent it turned dry while cool down in the room temperature. Once cooled down, refrigerated for 1hr.
  4. Now, is the fun part, and use your imagination to shape as real as possible. First take small portions of the mung bean mixture, roll and mould the mixture into the shape of your choice (most of the shaping job is using a toothpick (to create and draw the lines) and hands ). Put a toothpick to one end and another end poke into a piece of styrofoam. Leave it to dry and continue to mould the rest.
  5. Adjust the tone of food colouring by adding a bit water, one small container for one type of colour. Gently hold the toothpick from below and use the Chinese calligraphy brush to paint the Lookchoop candy. Put them back on styroform.
  6. Add agar-agar powder and sugar with water in a small saucepan, cook over medium heat till agar-agar melted. Once it boiled, change to very low. Scoop some agar-agar mixture into a small bowl (to prevent colour mix with the mixture) then dip the fruit shape into it and leave it dry on the styrofoam. Dip the rest of Lookchoop till finished.
  7. Then, dip the Lookchoop for 2nd time and leave it dry on styrofoam again. Once they have dried, decorate with leaves to make it look real (optional) and also remove the toothpick.
  8. Store in the refrigerator before consume.




I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest ( Thailand ) - November Month hosted by Lena of frozen wings

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all Hindu readers and bloggers a Happy Diwali and Happy Holidays !!


48 comments:

  1. Sonia, 你真的太有本领和耐心了。这个不简单。也很费工夫和精神的。你真的、真的很棒。

    这个让我看了有点晕。因为真的很多工。还要和它“化妆”呢。哈哈哈 ~

    可是成功的作品,对自己是充满喜悦和成就感的。like ~

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  2. Wah.....so impressive and I am sold and swoon looking at these attractive liitle miniature here. You are really a sifu of all tecipes. Salute....salute....

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  3. 你好厉害哦,每个都做到好逼真呢。。
    赞哦。。。

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  4. see sonia? i'm so early today! i was thrilled reading the comment that you just dropped and i am awed by your creations!!I am fascinated looking at your lookchoop, i've seen them on the streets in thailand and yours look just as pretty and stunning. lots of effort and time to make these..tabik! tabik!thx for your entry!

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  5. 哇~ 真的好漂亮,看了都不舍得吃呐。
    这个我还没吃过呐,不知是什么味道。等我有那个闲情一定要来试试看。
    你真的好有耐心去完成那么多的小水果,佩服!佩服!

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  6. Awww!! Ah Chi, I love your lookchoop!
    You are so creative and skillful.
    Chi, I want some cute miniature strawberry ones that taste like strawberry ... LoL
    mui

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  7. Hi Sonia! Like Lena, i want to tabik you too! These are gorgeous, so beautifully done, i bet the royal palace will be pleased too!

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  8. OMG! Super impressive! They are so adorable! Can't even eat them!

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  9. 哇! 好精彩的分享。。。太太太有心思了啊! 还要做这么多pattern实在不简单,给你很多很多的赞!
    真的真的佩服

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  10. unbelieveable! i'd been looking for this recipe for a long long time also! yours are just marvellous! 甘拜下风!!

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  11. Oh dear, you made it all...It is so unbelievable.

    I've saw this type of kuih - lookshoop. But I never intend to get some because of the colouring. Hehehe... yours definitely too gorgeous to be eaten. Mm Seh Tak....

    Thumbs Up Sonia!

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  12. So cute....
    You're Such A Wonderful Cook!

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  13. So cute and pretty! Makes me want to try some! Can you believe it that i haven't ever tried one of these before, mainly because i also never really like ang ku kueh's green bean filling..:p LOL! Looking at yours now is making me change my mind. I wish I'm staying next door so i can get to try some..:)

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  14. sonia, 真的太棒了!
    这要花很多心思做,时间。。哇!!
    都做得好美,好逼真啊

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  15. Beautifully done, Sonia! I know it took you a lot of time and effort. Hah! Hah! Your Desmond giving you a tough challenge!

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  16. I am so impressed Sonia! Its beautiful.

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  17. Wow super impressed with your skill! So nicely done!

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  18. 这个是我上次去吃到好好吃的泰国美食哦,你好厉害!!!

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  19. If this was on Facebook I would have liked it a thousand times! So delicate with each one of them lovingly crafted. And not to mention you made 10 types of fruits! You are indeed AWESOME

    Celina

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  20. these mung bean marzipan look so damn beautiful...they are so beautifully crafted and presented...loved the pics as well....just too good dear

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  21. 难怪这个星期没有什麽声音啦,要集中精神来做这个,现在完成了就收到了,哈哈哈!很美的成品,有点舍不得吃。

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  22. 这个我也在曼谷看过呢,原来是甜点来的。
    你好棒哦!每款都那么的漂亮和精致,真的很美!

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  23. You are an artist Sonia! I have seen this yes, even bought them on trips to Thailand, but never even though of doing them- because it seemed near impossible! You need such patience and also a fine eye and creativity! I'm in awe!

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  24. My family and I were living in Bangkok for 2 years and I see these marzipan being sold everywhere on a daily basis. However, I've never bought any as I wasn't sure what they were made from and they look rather frightening with all the coloring and somehow I had this feeling that they going to taste sickeningly sweet. Well, now I know that they are made from mung bean and jelly!

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  25. OMG...you are so hardworking to do this, so many step and take time!! But i like this, i try this before.

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  26. 这个真的很费时, 我看了都怕怕了。。
    你真的是很有耐心, 还做了这么多款式, 我真的佩服你了!

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  27. Wah Sonia, salute you for making this. Looks so intricate and pretty!

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  28. Oh wow Sonia, well done ! These little mung bean vegetables look stunning.
    Have a great weekend.
    Kristy

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  29. omg, is so delicate and impressive.
    u are going to sell it? haha

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  30. Hi Sonia, very impressive. You're good and very patience to made those tiny lookchoop. Well done.

    Have a wonderful weekend.

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  31. Hi Sonia, Awesome! Too beautiful to eat!

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  32. I’m salivating at those pictures!!

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  33. wow so colourful and beautiful...You are truly an artist.

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  34. I love all of the little vegetables! I really enjoy European style marzipan so I must try this. Without all the almonds like that version, it seems like it would be much more affordable, but still delicious.

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  35. Sonia , they sure look FANTASTIC ! I bet they taste even better than the almond marzipan :D

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  36. OMG, Sonia..... hats off to you. A wonderful job! I've never seen this before too!

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  37. OMG, Sonia....thumbs up! I've never seen this before too!

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  38. WOW!!! Sonia, is this a fruit stall?
    I want to buy 1 kg for each kind of fruits over there, hahaha...
    Anyway, this is a pretty and cute art work. Good Job! :)

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  39. Wow! beautiful artwork...this is so impressed

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  40. Wow, Sonia,
    you're such a talented cook!
    i just bookmark this recipe....

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  41. Hi Sonia, Thanks for sharing! I would love to make these beautiful Lookchoop one day!

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  42. Oh sonia~ I'm so impress on your creativity ! it's look so Cute!!

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  43. I love these!! Thank you for posting the recipe. And thank you for the Deepavali wishes ;)

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  44. Wow, you really amazed me with your skills, Sonia. This masterpiece is amazingly beautiful. Too cute to eat. Except for the artificial colouring, thumbs up!!

    KY

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  45. This is awesome Sonia :D
    I made them before... it was a lot of work involved and not to mention a topsy turvy kitchen :(

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  46. Sonia,

    You are amazing..i am speechless :p

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  47. Saw your gorgeous work of art. Just to check what type of food colour do you use? I.e. The ones we use to make colour layered agar-agar? But if for those normally we prepare pot full of jelly mix water & just add few tiny drops of colour to it only & it's very light. If wanted to use that to make Look Choop, does it means we dun need to add water to it instead just straight use the colour from the bottle to colour the fruits?

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