The Thai coconut puddings and the Asian steamer …

PK is an awesome 20 year old guy from Thailand, which I got to meet last year. Our passion for food and mutual interest in cooking, have strengthen our friendship and now he is a very close friend of mine. He moved to Australia 7 years ago with his mother and siblings, to open a Thai restaurant in Melbourne, where he is the chef. I love this place by the way! So if you are looking for a good and traditional Thai restaurant, this is a place you should visit. Recommended!

During one of our long conversations about food, ingredients, recipes, and the stories behind it, PK mentioned a particular one that has a great meaning for him.

This story started from the delicious Thai coconut puddings, traditionally known as Kanom-Tuay.

“As a child in Thailand , whenever you finished your BBQ chicken, this pudding was what you were having after…”

The dish itself is made with coconut, palm sugar, pandan syrup and rice flour, put in layers, and steamed in big Asian steamer. Traditionally is served as dessert after a meal.

“We used to have it quite often back in Thailand , but once or twice a year in Melbourne. So one day I decided to make it at home for my mum. Set up the steamer. And when I started, all these coconut aromas, the colors and textures reminded me when I was little watching my grandmother and my mum setting up this steamer to cooked lots of delicious food for us, as well as these puddings! Then I realized that food, taste, the method of cooking, the materials, the place, the equipment, etc. are all collected and kept in our hearts. Cooking and eating bring people together to share good times, and all these good moments are passed through generations to generations… You see, all these traditional foods are still here, the method is still here, people are still cooking them to remind us of the happiness of the past, about the people who used to enjoyed the time with this same food, about the one who taught you the recipe, and about the friends or family you shared these foods with.”

 

As PK was passionately telling me about his story, we were digging in one of these delicious puddings. I don’t know if it was delicious by itself or if his lovely and full of meaning words were making the dessert taste even better.

“That’s why the traditional food is so important for me and as well as for my mum. I will also pass this happiness of cooking and eating to my kids and hopefully they will do it so on…”

And with this said, and scooping into the remaining bit of pudding, we ended up our conversation which left an emotional feeling on the air… and moved into some other topic.