What is Nam Wan?

Nam wan is a classic Lao dessert and it translates to sweetened water. You can think of the word “nam wan” as an umbrella word for many other types of sweetened coconut milk drink desserts. It is typically made with sweetened coconut milk with various toppings. I made this one with dyed mini tapioca pearls, coconut jelly, and jackfruit in syrup, but you can put your other favorite Southeast Asian fruits in there too. The coconut milk is cooked on low with a pandan leaves to give it that very slight herbal scent and flavor.

Young Coconut Versus Mature Coconut

There are many differences to how old a coconut is. You want to make sure you use a mature coconut for this dessert if you are hand making the coconut milk. Mature coconuts typically have brown husk and they have less coconut water but have a lot more coconut meat in the shell. The thicker coconut meat makes a fattier and thicker coconut milk. Young coconut is used more for the delicious and sweet coconut juice and tender meat.

Cooking Tapioca Pearls

There are many ways to cook these mini tapioca pearls. I like buying them in the white color since I custom dye it to my liking. To get a more bouncy pearl, I steep the pearls in water for a few minutes and then it becomes half cooked and speeds up the actual cooking process. You can go ahead and boil then for a few additional minutes until it becomes translucent. The pearls can be made the day before to save you some time.

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