Um, don't ask me to make something and expect it not to be spicy.
I am addicted to chili flakes, hot sauce, and peppers. Anything, you name it. I'll eat it if it's hot. Don't give me mild, kinda-hot, give me HOT.
Funny story: The Dutch don't eat spicy. It's just not part of the cuisine. When I was in the Netherlands, my girlfriends and I decided to head to a local Thai restaurant in the town square that we had never been to. The choices were level 1 mild, level 2 spicy, level 3 damn hot. I looked in the kitchen and it was a small Thai lady cooking. I judge the level of spicy by who is cooking. She looked straight-Thai-local so I stuck to level 2. Good choice. I was fine, perfect amount of hot. Didn't make me sweat but it sure made my Dutch friend sweat at level 1. She even order a glass of melk. But whatever, that's the joys of traveling. Food and culture.
When I was in Thailand, I brought home spices. Chili spices. Oh yes. Party in my mouth.
I bought a red curry paste that they sell by weight at the supermarket. Kind of like a Super Target but imagine everything in Thai. It was 17 baht. I have no idea what that translates to except for f-n cheap.
My mother tells me "I want Thai curry. Go make some" "Yes mother (smile)"
I heat the oil and add some paste... I think it needs a little more... maaaybe a little more. Whoops. My bad. Too spicy for the people in my house except me. HAHA. My mothers solution, a WHOLE can of Coconut Cream. Not milk. Cream. Oh maan. It made it sweeter, still good except it wasn't spicy anymore. Uber sad face. Whatever, I ended up doing the same thing again the second time around. I will never learn.
So here is a picture of my Pumpkin Red Curry.
I love Thai food and I have been blessed with having Thai family members. So every chance I get, I am stuffing my face with an obscene amount of food I can't pronounce let alone know what it's called. THANK GOD for the internet. With a few descriptions of what I'm eating in Google, and either Wikipedia or a website will let me know the name. So that is exactly what I have done.
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| khanom tua pap |
Today around 16:00, I was handed a bag of egg rolls, pad thai and (from my internet research) khanom tua pap. It is a semisweet sticky rice with mung beans in the middle rolled in fresh shredded coconut, sprinkled with a mixture of sugar and sesame seeds. (If I am wrong, someone please correct me).
So the outer part of the dessert is similar to mochi but is not as sweet. The mung bean is nutty yet adds texture to the stickiness of the outer part. Then comes my favorite. Coconut. I love coconut. I hated it when I was little, but not sure when, I fell in love with it. So back to the coconut on the dessert. It adds a whole different dimension of nutty. The coconut shredded, creamy yet fresh flavor is a great compliment to the mung bean and slight sweetness of the mochi. Then the sugar sprinkled on top layers another texture of graininess, so to speak. But it isn't in a bad way. Normally, it is served with a toasted sesame seeds and sugar, but I prefer sugar. I've seen online that there are different colors to the "mochi" portion but in reality, food coloring scares me to death.
The next dessert that was in my goodie bag happens to be a coconut jelly. Simple coconut milk with gelatin. It has a subtle coconut smell that is not overpowering so it is easy to eat. The texture similar to kanten (Japanese for agar- a gelatin made from seaweed). The mold is quite eye catching but still makes me devour it in an instant.
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| coconut jelly |
I'll show more of my Thai dessert pictures at a later time from when I went to Thailand.
More to come! Any suggestions to other delish Thai desserts/food, please share!
