The Flavors That Still Haunts Me

In theory, two hours and thirty minutes is actually what it takes to have a heavenly bite of these flavors. And we need a backpack and that’s about it. But just like life, you can’t always go with theory.

You see, life happened and as much as I want to go back savoring all the flavors that really made me happy once, they are still beyond my reach at this point. So, I develop some type of cravings which haunts me every now and then.

It could be just the memory tied to it, an endless night of exploring the city market just to find the best street food bites and the novelty that it once offered.

When you’re looking online for more recipes attempting to make sense of the flavors that haunts you, unfortunately, in this part of the world, they don’t really talk much about their desserts, it’s as if they kept the secret of their hidden gem. You can find it all online if you dig deep enough and mostly it’ll have something that involves reading Thai letters.

Thankfully, all the flavors were recorded inside my mind that I know, even if I find a recipe online and recreate it, I would know “ It tastes just like how that lady sold it.

I was lucky that some of the recipes have a proper English translation to it but I still have to listen carefully and try to make sense of what they were trying to say to the best of my ability.

Thai dessert deserves its own Hall of Fame.

I don’t know why people are so fixated on Thai Main Courses than its dessert. Pad thai, Thai Curry, etc, and that’s mostly the recipes you can find online that foreigners love to make as well. That would be different when it comes to their desserts and even finding authentic ones that are just like how it’s made on the busy streets of Bangkok is kind of a challenge itself. Thai dessert is a hidden gem, worth exploring, worth savoring too. So, today I was up for a challenge.

There’s more than Roti & Sticky Mango Rice

When you’re going on your own way exploring the thai’s way of life, you can find a lot that tourists are rarely exposed to. You realize that there’s more than just sticky mango rice and roti.

There are variations of Thai desserts like various Khanom, Lot chong, and Buay Loy. There are more I can mention but lately, I’ve been craving desserts and those sweet and savory flavors came back haunting me. So, I tried finding one dessert that I had one time but the flavors of it lingered more than the others. Apparently, it’s called khanom tako sai khaophot.

Thai desserts have a special marker to it, a dominance of coconut milk and pandan leaves and a good rice flour with some tapioca is all you need in your pantry.

When you look at it, the components and ingredients might be daunting but all you need is rice flour, tapioca flour, pandan water, coconut milk and a pinch of salt. I learned this simple recipe from the youtube channel attached below and this is the easiest recipe that you can find out there.

You have to get a little crafty with folding the little holder for the desserts. It’s not that hard and with a good stapler, you’re really good to go. Since I can’t find pandan leaves in that amount, I was using banana leaves and some aluminum cups for it.

I use a stapler to secure the banana leaves and make a cup. I have to admit, the first time I made it, that was all over the place. Then, overtime I get better at making it and that finally has a proper shape to it.

You don’t need to steam, bake or anything, you simply have to make the base with the sweet corn as instructed in the video and then you have to make the coconut milk topping that will add savory and creamy flavor to this dessert.

The important thing to note while making Khanom Tako is temperature.

This dessert is a play of fire. You have to adjust the heat so that it doesn’t set too fast but also keeping the consistency a little gooey. Make sure that it won’t set too fast because it’ll be hard to place the tako inside the cup.

Once everything is set along with the coconut milk topping, they’re ready to serve. I can’t believe that this was easier to make than what I originally thought it would be. Now, I can pinpoint these flavors and that would no longer haunt me like it used to, though still, having them in Thailand would definitely be the best option.

In any case you’re wondering why it’s green, I don’t have fresh pandan leaves and I was using pandan essence to make the water base and it’s green. Hence why, my tako looks green.If you're interested in something sweet & savory for breakfast and for your coffee pairing, I also made Coffee Pairing With Castella . I promise you, my recipes are simple and easy 😄

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𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰.