Food Discoveries IV

Here's another set of food that I have discovered here in Pattaya.

1. Khanom Tuai - it's a two-layered coconut consists of smooth coconut jelly capped with silky coconut cream. They are molded both in small cups and larger saucers. Tuai in thai language means cup or small bowl. I eat this by scraping the coconut cream into my mouth and then toss the jelly. Yummy! This is one of my favorite desserts here in Thailand. It's sold in streets. But I bought it here in our village thru a mobile kart.

2. Sala - like most of the fruit that I have seen here in Pattaya, this fruit normally comes in large bunches and are reddish pink or maroon in color, depending on their variety and origin. The Thai variety sports spiny bristles, unlike the ones seen in Indonesia or Malaysia that are hairless, and often referred to as ‘Snake Fruit’ due to their scaly skin. It's initial flavor is sweet, followed by a tang of sour which is not at all unpleasant. It’s a little like rum and raisin ice cream.

3. Sugar Palm Fruit - okay, when I first saw this, I thought it was a giant circle-shaped eggplant. But It wasn't. It's a fruit. Haha. It's where the "kaong" from our halo-halo in the Philippines comes from and it's native to tropical asia. I have tasted it before but it was my first time to see the actual fruit. The british guy na kasama kong bumili that time calls it ice-apple. That's how they call it in UK.

4. Khao Lam - a very interesting and tasty Thai food dish. Sticky rice mixed with sugar and coconut milk. This mixture is filled into bamboo sticks and then baked for many hours. To eat the sticky rice that is cooked in the bamboo, you will need to split open the bamboo vertically. The vendor who sells Khao Laam will normally do it for you. It will not be easy to split the bamboo at home, so make sure that you get this task done by the vendor.

5. Avatar Fish - it's really not called avatar fish here in Thailand nor it's a fish. It's actually a dried squid cut weirdly in that shape. Nana just call it avatar for its weirdness. And that's how we call it since then. Hehe. This I have not tried since I'm allergic to seafood. Just thought of sharing this to everyone. They say it has a salty flavor that makes it perfect to use as a salty crunch on salads. Good to try for those who enjoys dried seafoods.