[MIA]

Thai food is loved and appreciated worldwide! Just like Thai food, Thai desserts are delicious and popular too. They look tempting, colourful, and delicious! Ummm…!!

Do you know most Thai sweets are made using five basic ingredients -- coconut flesh, coconut cream, palm sugar, rice flour, and eggs?

When in Thailand, you must try the sweets listed below:
- thong yot (sweet egg yolk drop)
- thong yip (sweet egg yolk cup)
- kluai buat chi (banana in coconut cream)
- kluai chueam (banana in syrup and coconut cream)
- met khanun (mung bean flour coated with sweet egg yolk)
- foi thong (sweet shredded egg yolk)
- sangkhaya (egg custard)
- tako (jelly with coconut cream)
- fakthong buat (pumpkin in coconut cream)
- lukchup (fruit-shape desserts made of mung-bean flour with natural coloring)

Thai sweets are for sale everywhere ranging from sidewalk stalls, markets, and small shops to department stores. I am sure some of them would become your favourites forever!

[Michael]

Thai's do have a sweet tooth. I was at Siam Paragon yesterday and they have a special festival for the moon cake. I tasted some of the deserts and they were good.

I have rarely eaten at a local mom and pop store in Thailand that had good deserts. Most will have some Ice Cream but little else.

My favorite Thai desert is Sticky Rice with Mango. Yummy!

There is also a candy made from sugar and coconut that you find wrapped in paper. It is quite sticky in your mouth and may pull out your fillings, but it is good!

[eleothegreat]

Yes. Sticky rice with mango! Yeay!

[lvdkeyes]

Mango and sticky rice is my favorite Thai dessert also. I find that most Thais have it more as a snack than as a dessert after a meal. I think most Thais eat fruit or ice cream after a meal if any dessert.

[eleothegreat]

Just in case you want to make your own Sticky Rice With Mango. (This recipe makes 2 servings)

For sticky rice:
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup sticky rice
2 pinches salt
1 cup coconut milk

1 ripe mango, sliced


THE STICKY RICE
To make sticky rice, first soak in in water for at least one hour - but you can also do the soaking overnight. Then, put some water at the bottom of your steamer, and then cover the steam section (the one with holes) with muslin or cheese cloth. Pour your soaked sticky rice on the cheesecloth and cover it. Cook on medium heat for about twenty minutes in order to fully steam and cook the rice. The cooked sticky rice will look translucent when it is fully cooked.

If you don't have a steamer, you can also cook the sticky rice in your microwave oven. Soak the sticky rice in a bowl of warm water for at least ten minutes. Always soak the sticky rice since un-soaked rice doesn't cook well. Use a microwaveable container and make sure that you keep the water level just a little over the rice. Cover the bowl with a microwaveable dish and cook it in the microwave on full power for about three minutes. Then, stir the rice and move it around. Check to see if all the rice has been cooked (you can see that cooked rice is fully translucent while the uncooked ones have white portions in the middle). Heat the microwave up again for three minutes and then stir the rice again to check if everything has been cooked. Do this process over and over until the rice has been cooked.

PUTTING IT TOGETHER
Now, after cooking the sticky rice you can start putting everything together. First, heat the coconut milk on a deep skillet or small pot over low heat and let it simmer. Stir the milk constantly as it is cooking since coconut milk will curdle as it is boiled. Add the sugar and the salt as you stir Pour three fourths of the coconut milk on the sticky rice and leave it for five minutes. The sticky rice should absorb the coconut milk and become all mushy. Keep the rest of the coconut milk and spoon it on upon serving.

Put the sliced mangoes on top of the rice and spoon a little of the coconut milk you have left over the mangoes.

Have fun eating!

[lvdkeyes]

You can also add 2-3 pandanus leaves or jasmine essence when cooking the coconut milk. And sprinkle with salted mung beans for an interesting crunchy texture.

[eleothegreat]

I just had bi-ko this morning. It's a local Philippine version of the sticky rice and mango - however, we use unrefined brown sugar to sweeten. No mangoes though. Just the sticky rice and sugar. Yummy!

[Wino]

eleothegreat, on 12 October 2009 - 02:54 AM, said:

I just had bi-ko this morning. It's a local Philippine version of the sticky rice and mango - however, we use unrefined brown sugar to sweeten. No mangoes though. Just the sticky rice and sugar. Yummy!

Bi-ko does sound yummy. I will try it the next time I visit your wonderful country, but why no mangoes? They don't grow in the Philippines or are they just not a popular food item?

[eleothegreat]

Oh you should try it!

On the contrary, Mangoes are indeed very popular in the Philippines. It is even in fact deemed as our National fruit .

I don't know why we don't have mangoes on our sticky rice, though. I think it's probably because mangoes are a bit expensive to buy regularly.

Sometimes, we put a little coconut meat and some coconut milk on our biko. In some biko versions, they mix some jackfruit shreds just to add to the scent and flavor.

The biko is already sweet on its own, I'm not sure how it would taste with the mango - but then again, you just gave me an ideaq.

[Wino]

Is biko something a person cooks at home or is it available from street vendors or in the store? I do not recall ever seeing it, but really did not know about it until now.

[eleothegreat]

Biko is usually made at home for special occasions or for merienda, but there are some street vendors or sari - sari stores (small stores) that sell these as well. You may happen to chance on Some Filipino snack bars (especially those that serve real filipino food and not western food). They may also serve biko or snack for dessert as well.

[Wino]

Thanks eleo. The dessert sounds delicious. I will look for it on my next trip.

[Bob]

Just had some banana roti last night for desert (Garare food place near the night market in Chiangmai). Not sure if it's strictly a Thai desert but sure was tasty. Best way I can describe it is you make a very thin pancake and then fill that up with banana slices, wrap the pancake around that, and then continue to cook until the banana slices are hot. Then you slice it into somewhat bite-sized pieces. Optional coatings on top of coconut milk and chocolate (since I was thinking about watching my weight, I asked that only half be dribbled with chocolate.... ).

[lvdkeyes]

LOL, if you are watching your weight, the chocolate is far from the worst part. Did you watch them cook it and see the amount of oil/margarine that was used?

[Bob]

lvdkeyes, on 22 October 2009 - 11:44 AM, said:

LOL, if you are watching your weight, the chocolate is far from the worst part. Did you watch them cook it and see the amount of oil/margarine that was used?

Actually, extremely sparingly. Yes, I stood right there and watched them cook it.....and hope I didn't look too stupid salivating a bit. It was delicious (but I'm a sucker for anything "banana" in it - my favorite being the banana honey milkshake. I'm lucky as I don't have to worry about weight issues (weigh about 185* at 6'1").

(*that's pounds, you turkeys, not kilos!)

[lvdkeyes]

Turkeys?

[Bob]

lvdkeyes, on 25 October 2009 - 08:03 AM, said:

Turkeys?

Just a term of endearment.

Come to think of it, you know how you keep a turkey in suspense?

[lvdkeyes]

Turkeys are stupid mindless birds. LOL

[Wino]

Bob, on 25 October 2009 - 01:06 PM, said:

Come to think of it, you know how you keep a turkey in suspense?

I will tell you next week.

[Bob]

Wino, on 25 October 2009 - 05:23 PM, said:

I will tell you next week.

Gobble, gobble....