This Thai dessert is called sungkaya and tastes a bit like a custard. The main ingredients are duck eggs, palm sugar, normal sugar, coconut cream, pandanus leaves and cassava flour. The toppings can vary. This one has pumpkin. But, you can also buy cocount meat, taro or foi thong toppings. It is usually served with sticky rice. Very delcious and worth eating.

I have already told you about Foi Thong (Golden Threads) which is a Thai dessert from ancient times that is served at auspicious ceremonies. For example, at weddings. There are two other desserst from this same family that I want to introduce to you today.  Thong Yib, or Golden Pinch (above) and Thong Yod, or Golden Droplets (below). They all have the word “thong” in common which means “gold”. If you give these desserts to someone at a wedding, it means that you are wishing for them to have fabulous wealth in the future.

Thong Yib is made with the following ingredients: duck egg yolks, castor sugar, fresh water and pandanus leaves. The latter is for making the syrup. Like I showed you on the Foi Thong video, two kinds of syrup are made: thick syrup and light syrup. The egg mixture is dropped into the boiling thick syrup. Then later, dipped into the cooler light syrup. This gives it the glossy look.

Thong Yod uses the following ingredients: egg yolks and a mixture of wheat and rice flour. The two syrups are made with castor sugar and fresh water. All three of these desserts are delicious and worth eating.

The other day, I was having a conversation with one of the teachers in the lift. As usual, she had bought some Thai desserts from the market to share with her fellow teachers. She asked what my favourites were and I had to admit that I had only eaten a few. What sprang to mind, were the delicious desserts khanom mor gaeng and also the equally delicious khao nieow dtut.  Now, most people at the school know I am writing Thai Food blogs, so she immediately volunteered to educate me in Thai desserts! And so today, she came up to me with a bag full of Thai desserts for me to photograph and taste! She explained which ones I had to eat straight away and which ones I could save for a later day by putting in the refrigerator. I can tell you, I was really stuffed today. But, it was a really good introduction.

Today I am going to introduce you to khanom chun, or layered dessert. It is named like this because it has nine layers. As you may know, this is an auspicious number. So, it is often used for important ceremonies such as job promotion (representing going up levels) and at weddings. In the above example, each layer is a shade of green. I have seen ones before where it was green/white stripes. If you have read my previous blog about khanom thuay you might be able to guess where the green comes from. Yes, it is from the pandanus leaf. You make the liquid by putting it in a blender and then straining it though muslin.

To make this dessert, mix the coconut milk and sugar. Bring to boil and then set aside. Mix the topioca flour with the plain flour and add coconut milk. Knead the mixture. Add the coconut milk and sugar which you had set aside. Now separate them into two containers. in one add the green water from the pandanus leaves. Leave the other white. (In the case above, some pandanus water was added to the coconut milk before boiling. Then later, more was added to the second container to make a darker shade of green.) Grease the mould with some coconut milk and then heat it in a steamer. First, add some of the white mixture and steam for 5–10 minutes. Then repeat this with the green mixture, white mixture etc. Finish with a green layer. Leave in the mould for 3–4 hours before removing it. Sounds quite labour intensive, especially as they only sell for 10 baht! The result is quite tasty. I would eat it again for sure.

It is not often that I get a chance to see Thai desserts being made in person. So, I was particularly thrilled at the weekend to see some demonstrations of how to make a few of my favourite Thai sweets. The one I want to show you today is called Golden Threads, or foi thong ( ฝอยทอง ) in Thai. It is not strictly speaking a Thai dessert as it was believed to have been introduced by the Portuguese over 400 years ago. However, the Thai have made it their own now. The basic ingredient is egg yolk which is gently cooked in a syrup of water and sugar.

It all looks quite easy to make but I am sure you need to practice a lot to get it just right. First the eggs are separated and then the yolks are beaten in a bowl. This is then placed in the refrigerator until it is needed. A syrup is then made with a mixture of sugar and perfumed water. This is done in a large wok. The egg yolks are then put into a funnel with two small holes at the bottom. This is then swung above the wok in a circular motion.

As soon as the egg yolk hits the hot syrup it starts to cook. It only takes about 1 minute before it is ready. The lady then used a knife to cut the strands in four places. She then used what looked like knitting needles to collect these threads. She then dipped them into another syrup solution which gave it a gleam and then placed it on the tray. A very interesting dessert indeed.

You can download the video here:

http://www.enjoythaifood.com/videos