How to make Three-Color Dessert (Nab Vam)

Sami Scripter, co-author of "Cooking from the Heart: The Hmong Kitchen in America," explains how Three-Color Dessert (Nab Vam) is made. The recipe is featured in "Cooking from the Heart," which is published by University of Minnesota Press.

About the book: http://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/cooking-from-the-heart

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• cooking
• Hmong
• Hmong cookbook
• Hmong culture
• Hmong recipe
• cookbook
• Nab Vam
• dessert recipe
• drink recipe
• St. Paul
• Saint Paul
• Minneapolis
• Minnesota
• publisher
• press
• book
• Hmong food

[kvj1961]

This lady has no idea what she is talking about. The green stuff is made with mung beans flour, tapioca flour and rice flour. It is mixed with the juice of pandan leafs or otherwise known as screwpine leaves. That gives it the color. The brown liquid is not caramalized sugar. it is palm sugar melted in pandan leaves. The coconut milk is also boiled in pandan leaves. The only thing correct is the pink pearls are tapioca balls, also know as sago. It is the taste that makes this a special drink.

[ZuajYang]

I agree...it makes me sad when other Hmong people claims that Naam vahn & papaya salad are originally Hmong food. They aren't. Know what I really consider food that are Hmong? That cow intestine soup and my favorite, boiled chicken w/herbs.

[maaaaiy]

@kvj1961 thats nots true because most hmong people dont make there nabvam from scratch. they buy the products

[missiekoko]

Ha I bet that 's at the Hmong Village.

[kawaiikowai08]

I found a little "kit" in my asian store with cooked tapioca and cooked green thread things, it comes with a little cup of coconut milk that's mixed with the sugar but I'm not sure if I have to add water or not? Its a very small amount of liquid compaired to the amount of tapioca stuff.

I had this drink at my farmers market and it was amazing!

[wonderlady432]

or you get one bag of the flour that has the front label with three banana leave triangle cake on it and use it with two bag of water using the flour bag

[wonderlady432]

For string recipe

I do the easy way use 1 bag of rice flour and a table spoon of lime stone....dissolve the lime stone into a cup of water first..only use the water so filter out the lime stone....add two cup of water with the bag of rice flour and stir until it completely dissolve then add the cup of lime stone water into it, add water into a pot and simmer it in low heat until it's thicken.

[AzNSinger93]

Nam Wahn is the mien version.

[kvj1961]

I made this by going and looking at several u-tube receipes. it is not very difficult to make. pandan leaves are available in the frozen section of most asian/ veitnamese store/ You can also use pandan flavor, which comes in a small bottle.

[0126achang]

@kvj1961 you don't have to use pandan leafs. my family uses caramelized sugar for sweetening nab vam, and carmelizing the sugar also gives it a brown color. i don't know anyone who uses pandan leaves for anything, maybe thats your way of making it, but i'm sure most hmong people does it the easy way with boiling and mixing the coconut milk with water and carmelizing the sugar.

[HOLLISTER0136]

This looks like the Como Market in MN.

[hmongpoison]

can anyone give me the recipe for the green thingy? PLEASE. i'm not a big fan of other people's nab vam so i really want to create my own, with the stuff i love most. and if anyone knows how to make those little rice balls....PLEASE do share