Ka-Noom Som-Ma-Nus : Thai coconut Meringue

In the last blog I told you about my obsession about cooking.  Since I already made med-kha- noon that uses egg yolk and I have egg whites left over what can I do!!!  Of course Thai people in the past have never thrown anything away and they use it to make this Thai dessert  called “ Ka-noom Som ma nus” it means happy dessert

In the past most of the Thai desserts will have coconut milk, rice and sugar but we don’t use eggs in the ingredients until western cooking came to Thailand around the Ayutthaya period the reign of King Narai (1656-1688).  Marie Guimar, a foreign lady who introduced several exotic desserts to Siam(Thailand’s old name).  She brought several desserts from Portugal with egg and sugar as the main ingredients, and this dessert is one of them.  So this dessert has a very long story and it came from a long time ago and it was hard to find it in the present Thailand and believe it or not  a lot of Thai people don’t know this dessert exists!!!

Ingredients

¼ cup egg white

½ cup sugar

1 tsp. Cream of tartar

1 cup shredded coconut

 1 tsp. cocoa powder

 Cooking instructions

1.       Toast coconut in the oven at 250 F about 30 minutes or until brown.

2.       Spray oil into the baking sheet.

3.       Pour egg white into the mixing add cream of tartar.  Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed till soft peak form (tips curl).  Add sugar, 1 tbsp. at the time, beat about 7 minutes on high speed till stiff peaks form( tips stand straight up)

4.       Add cocoa powder and toast coconut, use spatula and fold until mixed well

5.       Use spoon scoop the meringue out of the bowl and with another spoon scoop out to a plate into a prepared backing sheet.  Make the space about 1 inch.

6.       Bake in a 250 F for 50-60 minutes, turn off the oven and let it sit for hour in the oven

7.       Serve with tea or coffee, leftovers put in to tight container.

I love this dessert!!! 

Fried banana

Actually this fried banana is not traditional recipe. Because the original one we use is a different kind of banana called Kruy Num Wa. Kruy Num Wa which is one of the famous kinds of banana that have a unique texture of the fruit itself that is very soft and sweet when it is ripened.  Also pack it with a vitamin that is very good for you, but when it cooked the texture becomes firmer but still having a sweet taste.  In Thailand we eat it, feed the new born baby and cooked with it like fried banana.  Fried banana in Thailand we use Kruy Num Wa that is almost ripe cut into quarters then dipped into batter that has coconut milk, shredded coconut, flour, sesame seeds, sugar, salt then deep fried it.

Unfortunately I did not see this kind of banana much.  Since this kind of banana is hard to find, most of Thai restaurants use regular bananas and wrap it with spring roll skin and deep fry it in order to harden the texture of the soft banana after cooked, but for this recipe I use a wonton wrap.  I got the idea from my friend when she made it for her party one time and I liked it, but I put my twist on the recipe by putting coconut cream cheese mixture into it and it came out great for one of my Thai cooking class recipes and everyone love it!!!

 Ingredients

20 pieces wonton skin

2 bananas

3 OZ cream cheese

3 tsp. sugar

¼ cup shredded coconut

2 tbsp. water

1 tsp. sugar powder

Oil for deep fried

Ice cream (optional)

Cooking Instructions

1.       Into mixing bowl mix cream cheese and sugar together then add shredded coconut, mix well

2.       Cut banana into cross-wise about ½ inches thick (one banana make 10 pieces).

3.       Place banana into the middle of wonton skin put about ½ tsp. of cream cheese mixture on the top

4.       Fold the edge of the wanton skin into the middle use water as a glue and make it the same way for all 4 corners

5.       Preheat oil 350 F then add banana wrap to be fried about 1-2 minutes per side

6.       Serve with sugar powder or ice cream.