EXQUISITE THAI DESSERTS – ASIAN DESSERTS

Affected by high temperature of hot tropical region and combined in order to balance the heavy sour, heavy spicy, heavy incense, Thai desserts seem so soft and moist, cool and refreshing, sweet and pleasant; although the weather is cold, Thai desserts are still appetizing! In general, Thai desserts have several features:

#1 COCONUT MILK IS IMPORTANT

Coconut milk is Thai dessert’s most important constituent elements, almost every dessert has coconut milk in existence, as a result, fresh and pleasant coconut has become one of the most indispensible tastes of Thai desserts. But in the use of techniques and treatment are very diverse, some of the soup are used as the base soup, some are rubbed into the fragrant and cute pastries, and some are poured over the surface and become the sauce, while others are as the source of white pigment. In order to make more changes in taste, Thai chefs often add appropriate salt in coconut milk to make it a slightly salty, co-existing with sweetness and thus the delicacy doubled.

#2 TIME-CONSUMING WORKS WITH HIGH EXQUISITE

Currently, it can be traced into royal family with the more well-known and popular Thai dessert, therefore, early years of delicate making and high cost on desserts are reserved as well. Compared with Western-style desserts, the current Thai dessert has a very high level on handmade skill, especially on some pastry making, it often takes half an hour or more than one hour on elasticity and viscosity, it’s quite staggering that it consumes on time and labor.

Secondly, in the pursuit of beauty, until now, many Thai dessert chefs will still spend a lot of time to woven with fruits or leaves or to carve out exquisite dessert containers. Especially coupled with the extensive use of various edible pigments or plant sap, those make more Thai desserts beautiful on look and tastier on eating.

#3 GENTLE AND SWEET, FRESH AND PLEASANT

In contrast to salty, sour and spicy savory Thai cuisine with passionate and full personality, Thai desserts have become extremely gentle and pleasant from personality to texture. For cooking methods, Thai desserts are mainly focus on steaming and boiling, rare grilling and frying that are common in Western desserts. For materials, the main constituent elements are rice, coconut, mung bean flour, sugar, fruits and veggies, lacking of flour, oil, or heavy taste of spices and other ingredients. and thus the overall look of Thai desserts seems less greasy, moderate, very fresh and healthy.

#4 SOFT AND CUTE, TASTE FIRST

Thai dessert is very particular on texture and is preferred to soft and fragrant taste. Whether the use of cornstarch, mung bean flour or rice flour which are so easy to form glial in making cute pastries with high transparency, or the use of cooked taro or green bean in making fragrant desserts, they are all favored by the Thai people.

#5 SIMPLE AND NEAT ICE FOOD

Due to the hot weather in Thailand, all kinds of ice food become a high proportion of popular refreshing product in Thailand. Different with Taiwan’s numerous ingredients on ice food, Thai desserts seem to be rather simple on ingredients and neat on practice. All with coconut milk and crushed ice as the base, plus Paramita and other fruits and vermicelli made from mung bean flour or cornstarch and pigments.

4 Thai dessert recipes:

#1 KLUAI BUAT CHI (COCONUT MILK AND BANANA CHIPS)

Slice the bananas lengthwise, and remove the banana tops.
Pour coconut milk in a saucepan, stir in sugar and salt.
Cook until boiling, add banana slices.
Boil again after a few minutes, and then remove the saucepan from the fire.
Eat hot or wait after cooling.

KLUAI BUAT CHI

#2 COCONUT SAGO POMEGRANATE ICE

Chop water chestnuts; wrap them with Thai unique red honey.
Add in pomegranate; boil them to fine look and crisp sago.
Finally top with fragrant coconut milk, mixed with ice.

COCONUT SAGO POMEGRANATE ICE

#3 BUA LOI PHUAK (COCONUT MILK TARO BALLS)

In a bowl, place sticky rice, four and cornstarch.
Add mashed taro tablets, knead soft dough.
Respectively knead the dough into little balls, and set aside.
Stir in palm sugar and salt into the coconut milk, heat slightly to dissolve them.
Stir constantly in the heating process.
Pour taro balls into it until boiling.
Wait a few minutes after boiling, remove it from the fire, and eat when hot.

BUA LOI PHUAK

#4 SANGKHAYA FAKTHONG (PUMPKIN CUSTARD)

Cut a small strip at the top of the pumpkin, remove the inside seeds and most part of the fruit flesh.
In a bowl, beat eggs and gently stir.
Add salt, sugar and coconut cream, keep stirring until completely fused.
Pour the liquid mixture into the pumpkin.
Steam the pumpkin for about 20 minutes until custard is shaped well.

SANGKHAYA FAKTHONG