Tau sar piah are walnut-sized mung bean pastries that are particularly associated with Penang, where my father’s side of the family are from. I remember first tasting the flaky pastry and sweet-savoury crumbly mung bean filling. It was delicious (particularly when warmed up) and of the two versions available (sweet or salty) my family preferred the salty with its strange combination of savoury shallots and sweet mung beans (the sweet version leaves out the salt and shallots). Naturally, when I attempted to make these for the first time, I made the salty kind (though I think Blai wishes they had been sweet!).
I adapted a recipe from Kooky Culinary and while I tried cutting down on the sugar, I’d recommend using the entire amount in the recipe. They’re easy to make but very time consuming and labour intensive as the pastry for each tau sar piah must be formed individually. The flaky pastry was fantastic and I hope to use it again for other pastries.
The only thing that was missing? That unmistakable flavour you get when the pastry is made with lard. I’d love to hear if you’ve made this or other similar pastries with lard!
Tau Sar Piah
adapted from Kooky Culinary.
makes 32.
For the filling
200g peeled dried mung beans (yellow), soaked for 2 hours
70g sugar (I would increase this to 100g)
1 tsp salt
60g sunflower oil
3-4 shallots, minced (or 1/2 a small onion)
(For the sweet version, leave out the salt and shallots)
For the oil dough
80g plain flour
45g sunflower oil
For the water dough
150g plain flour
80g sunflower oil
60g water
1/4 tsp white vinegar
1 egg yolk
Drain the soaked mung beans and place in a heat proof bowl. Steam for about 20 minutes until cooked through and soft enough to mash. Let cool and then mash well with a fork.
Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add the oil. Fry the shallots until soft and then add the salt, sugar and mashed mung beans. Fry together until all are combined well; this should take a few minutes. Set aside and let cool.
Now make the doughs. For the oil dough, mix together the oil and flour until it comes together into a thick paste. Set aside. For the water dough, mix all the ingredients together into a thicker dough. Knead together for a minute and then also set this aside for at last 20 minutes.
Divide each of the three parts (filling, oil dough, water dough) into 32 equal pieces. (It’s easy as 32 = 2^5 and so it’s just a matter of dividing in half multiple times.)
Now to put them together! Flatten a piece of water dough and use it to wrap a piece of oil dough evenly. Form into a ball and flatten it with a rolling pin. Roll this flat pancake like a Swiss roll and then turn it 90 degrees so that it appears vertically to you. Roll flat again and again roll it up like a Swiss roll. Form this roll into a flat round and use it to wrap a piece of filling. There’s a great pictorial guide to this process at the bottom of this post by ieatishootipost.
Place the pastries on a lined baking sheet (they won’t spread so they can sit close together – see the photo below). Beat together the egg yolk with a little water and use it to glaze all the pastries.
Bake in a preheated 190 Celsius oven for 15-20 minutes, until the pastries are golden brown.
Mon, 16 Jul, 2012 at 12:52
Aaah… I love these biscuits! And my favourite is definitely the salty one with the shallots! Yours look so professional; at first I thought you’d bought them! 🙂
Sun, 29 Jul, 2012 at 22:54
Oh, thank you so much!
Mon, 16 Jul, 2012 at 15:30
Oh my.. I used to love these (the sweet version) as a kid! Have not had them in years… definitely gonna make some now!
Sun, 29 Jul, 2012 at 22:54
Looks like I need to make a sweet batch next time!
Tue, 17 Jul, 2012 at 12:59
omg my sister goes mad for this. sharing this post with her. though, seeing as she’s in singapore, she prob will just buy them haha. very impressed by all the labour-intensive work you went to to make them! so that’s the secret to the flaky pastry, the combination of 2 types of dough, will keep in mind for making pies, beats a standard shortcrust.
Sun, 29 Jul, 2012 at 22:55
Ah, they’re so easy to buy there! And yes, the way to make the flaky pastry is, I guess, also similar to the way one makes the flaky pastry for curry puffs.
Wed, 18 Jul, 2012 at 12:39
Oooh, impressive, many doughs and some cooking maths. The end results look well worth the effort though. I’ve had these in various Chinese bakers before and love the sweet version. Never tried it with shallots though.
Part of me is also imagining these beautiful balls stuffed with the sort of tart filling you’d use for a treacle tart… Heresy?
Mon, 30 Jul, 2012 at 10:38
Not heresy! There’s another Penang pastry that’s stuffed with a chewy brown sugar mixture. And it’s great!
Wed, 18 Jul, 2012 at 18:16
they look like the baked manju we often make!
Mon, 30 Jul, 2012 at 10:39
Oh! I need to look up baked manju now!
Tue, 24 Jul, 2012 at 16:16
Oh my days you made tau sar piah!! Well done and they look amazing!!
Mon, 30 Jul, 2012 at 10:40
Thank you so much!
Wed, 14 Nov, 2012 at 15:40
[…] Tau Sar Piah – Penang Mung Bean Pastries (tamarindandthyme.wordpress.com) […]
Sat, 23 May, 2015 at 10:30
Do you have the recipe for the chewy brown sugar mixture used in the Penang piah.
Sun, 24 May, 2015 at 14:41
Sorry, I currently do not!
Mon, 27 Jul, 2015 at 01:31
[…] Image Source […]
Sun, 2 Aug, 2015 at 15:12
Can I use vegetable oil instead of sunflower oil?
Sun, 2 Aug, 2015 at 23:24
I don’t see why not!
Thu, 5 Nov, 2015 at 04:55
Hello su lin..
im serching the recipe before and try baking it. And i got a tasty and flaky tau sar piah. really love it and now i sell it to my friends…
Fri, 26 May, 2017 at 08:05
[…] Original recipe found here: https://tamarindandthyme.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/tau-sar-piah-penang-mung-bean-pastries/ […]
Mon, 26 Jun, 2017 at 08:14
It has been really one of the top articles i have read. It was actually very informative.Looking ahead for a lot more blogs of this in near coming future
Sat, 16 Dec, 2017 at 02:06
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Tau Sar Piah
Fri, 16 Feb, 2018 at 14:42
Thank you!!! My Dad is from Penang and I have been looking for a recipe for this forever! I didn’t even know what they were called as he forgot the Chinese name. The factory made ones you can get in Chinatown and Chinese supermarkets don’t taste at all like the ones I remember from Penang. (Maybe because they don’t use lard hehe). Anyway, homemade is always best. I love the salty ones the best which is funny because my sister really doesn’t like them. But nothing is better than that sweet mung bean/salty shallot taste. Thank you for posting this! Gong xi fa cai!