8 desserts from Thailand eaten on New Year's Eve

These 8 desserts, which can be found throughout the year in markets or food stalls in Thailand, are highlighted during the New Year.

A short history of desserts in Thailand

It is peculiar that the first observers who visited Siam did not dwell on the food of its inhabitants.

La Loubère (a French poet and diplomat, envoy extraordinary of Louis XIV to Siam in 1687) obviously speaks to us about a lot of fruits, rice and the chicken-pig-fish trilogy without telling us about any pastry.

Monsignor Pallegoix (a French clergyman who was vicar apostolic of Oriental Siam from 1841) is hardly more prolix on this subject.

He does, however, tell us about fermented glutinous rice cakes, "earthy pistachio" (peanut) cake, coconut milk flavoured cakes and tamarind jam, all without going into detail.

Did the Siamese of the time, who had all the ingredients necessary for pastry-making (sugar of course, cane or palm sugar, milk, flour, chicken or duck eggs, fats, etc.), make the difference between cooking and pastry-making in the strict sense?

It is not always obvious in a country like ours, where the gastronomic tradition is old.

This is not certain insofar as a slice of pineapple is often served with salt and the cuisine happily mixes sweet and salty (เปรี้ยวหวาน - priaowan - priao: salty - wan: sweet) which is not unpleasant in itself, we eat duck with orange, wild boar with cranberries or quail with grapes.

The queen of Thai desserts

Perhaps it was when Maria Guyomar de Pina, widow of Phaulkon, the former prime minister of King Narai, was sentenced to serve for life in the kitchens of the royal palace at the end of the 17th century that the concept of pastry itself was refined.

She introduced many of the recipes for sweets that she knew from her paternal Portuguese roots, but using local products.

These recipes spilled over from the court to the rest of the country, where she earned the title of "Thai Dessert Queen" by which she is still known (rachinihaengkhanomthai - ราชินีแห่งขนมไทย).

It is obviously difficult to attribute the invention of any particular sweet to her, although there are probably many, but the history of pastry-making in Siam dates from her.

New Year's pastries

Although pastries are eaten all year round, some are especially dedicated to specific periods, especially holidays, as for the Thais, any opportunity to celebrate is good.

The new administrative year has been starting for more than a century, like ours, on 1 January.

This will be another opportunity to celebrate, so some pastries are specially allocated to this time of year, although you will find them all year round on our market stalls, but in lesser abundance.

At the beginning of the year, the Royal Mail dedicated a beautiful stamp issue to eight of them.

Stamp in homage to Thai New Year desserts.

Khanom: cake in Thai

The khanom thongmuangsot (ขนมทองมัวสด)

khanom thongmuangsot

It is a kind of crispy pan-fried pancake, often sold wrapped in pandan leaves, a mixture of flour, sugar, coconut milk and sesame seeds.

It is likely that this is a recipe inspired directly by Maria Guyomar.

The khanom tom (ขนมต้น)

khanom tom

The origin of the khanomtom (ขนมต้น) is said to be ancient, associated with certain ceremonies such as the laying of the founding pillar of a house.

We find glutinous rice flour, pandan juice, grated coconut, palm and cane sugar.

It is also pan-fried and requires a lot of handling.

The khanom kliplamduan (ขนมกลิบลำดวน)

khanom kliplamduan

It is a pastry made of flour, sugar and vegetable oil.

It is a kind of biscuit baked in the oven and often coloured with food colouring, pandanus leaves for green, blue pea flowers for blue and turmeric for red.

The khanom sampanni (ขนมสำปันนี)

khanom sampanni

It is a kind of candy with various colours, cooked for a long time in a pan, made of tapioca flour, sugar and coconut milk and also coloured at will.

The khanom piakpun (ขนมเปียกปูน)

khanom piakpun

This is another kind of sour candy that can be made without cooking, rice flour, palm sugar, lime juice.

The mixture is often thickened with arrowroot, agar-agar or tapioca starch.

The khanom wunkrop (ขนมวุ้นกรอบ)

khanom wunkrop

It is also a kind of gelatinous and multicoloured candy mixed with agar-agar, jasmine flower water, sugar, arrowroot and always natural colourings.

The khanom tako (ขนมตะโก้)

khanom tako

It is a kind of cream made from rice flour or mung bean flour, sugar and mixed with jasmine flower water.

To the creamy mixture, thick coconut cream is added, similar to our western whipped cream.

The khanom rerai (ขนมเรไร)

khanom rerai

It is made from rice flour, tapioca flour, arrowroot, coconut milk, grated coconut and sugar, all cooked over a low heat in a pan.

Some observations on these Thai desserts

These delicacies, more sweets than pastries, call for some observations:

It is difficult to find the recipes even in English.

However, the Internet offers a multitude of sites that provide useful explanations, usually by video, and each cook has his or her own recipe that he or she considers to be the best.

We note the almost systematic use of gelatinous gelling agents which some may find perfectly disgusting, but there is no arguing with taste.

It seems to us, in view of the recipes that we have been able to consult on the web, that the proportions of sugar, whether palm or cane, could be systematically and drastically reduced ... but it is still a question of taste.

Source: Great and small stories of Thailand