Ripe bananas gently simmered in sweetened coconut milk with a pinch of salt and fragrant pandan, sometimes thickened with tapioca pearls, until soft, creamy and lightly perfumed.
Chek ktis is everyday Cambodian comfort, a humble dessert that turns a few ripe bananas and a can of coconut milk into something soothing and rich. Sold warm from market carts and made just as easily at home, the salted, pandan-scented coconut broth is the kind of sweet Khmer cooks reach for without a recipe.
Spoon-soft bananas melt into a warm, creamy coconut broth that is sweet with a deliberate edge of salt. Pandan lends a soft floral grassiness, and if there are tapioca pearls they add little bursts of slippery chew.
Keeping the coconut milk at a bare simmer rather than a rolling boil stops it from curdling and splitting into oil. A pinch of salt sharpens the perception of sweetness, while the ripe bananas soften and lend their own sugars and starch to thicken the broth.
Variations
With tapioca pearls or sago, with sweet potato or pumpkin added, scented with star anise, topped with toasted sesame
On the Palate
Where Chek Ktis (Banana in Coconut Milk) sits in the Cambodian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
8 steps · 10 min
- 13 min
Peel the ripe bananas and cut them into thick chunks.
- 28 min
If using tapioca, boil the pearls separately until translucent, then drain.
- 32 min
In a pot, combine coconut milk, water, palm sugar, a pinch of salt and a knotted pandan leaf.
- 43 min
Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
Watch outBring it only to a bare, lazy simmer — let the coconut milk boil hard and it curdles and splits into oil.
- 58 min
Add the banana pieces and simmer over low heat until soft, taking care not to boil hard.
Watch outAdd the bananas and keep it barely trembling until soft — they release their own sugars to thicken the broth, but a rolling boil turns them to mush.
- 62 min
Stir in the cooked tapioca pearls if using and warm through.
- 71 min
Taste and adjust the sweetness and salt to balance.
Watch outTaste and balance with the pinch of salt — the salt is what makes the sweetness pop, so adjust until it tastes rounded, not flat.
- 82 min
Ladle into bowls, drizzle with reserved coconut cream and serve warm.
