This ring is made from young shredded coconut, bi-tua (pandan leaves) flavouring, nuts, and puffed rice. It’s Thailand’s version of crunch bars and eaten at the new year in April. I’ve pressed it into a tom yum pan to get that donut shape.

Ingredients
125 gms Rice Crispies ( Puffed Toasted Rice )
80 gms Peanuts
40 gms Ground Young Coconut
150 gms Sugar
2 tbsp. White Sesame Seeds
10 gms Bitua Leaves (Pandan Leaves)
200 ml Water

Preparation
1. In a dry hot frying pan, toast the sesame seeds until they are golden.
2. Toast the peanuts in the same way, until browned and leave to cool.
3. Blend the bi tua leaves with the water then sieve to get just the green water.
4. Into a saucepan, place the bi tua water and bring to the boil, add the sugar and ground coconut and stir until the water reduces and becomes sticky.
5. Add the remaining ingredients, and mix to make sure the sticky water covers all the ingredients.
6. Empty into a tom-tum pan, press flat, and leave to cool and set.

Another use for mee krob (crunchy rice vermicelli) is this snack. This snack is crunchy rice and dates made into a semi-sweet dessert. I like to mould it into a tom yum pan and serve it sliced with dates in the center, as in the photograph.

Ingredients
30 gms Rice Noodles (Thin)
Oil For Deep Frying
2 Tablespoons Sugar
3 Tablespoons Chopped Dates
1 Tablespoons Sliced Small Onion
1 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
1 Tablespoons Oil

Preparation
1. Preheat the oil, drop in small amounts of the rice noodles, remove and drain. They cook in only a few seconds.
2. Put all the ingredients into a large pan, heat gently and stir until the sugar has dissolved and the onions cooked.
3. Add the crispy rice noodles, and mix well.
4. Spoon into a mould, and press it down with the back of the spoon to compress it. Leave in the fridge to cool

This is a traditional dessert of Thailand, but rice cakes are time consuming to make, and so I’ve made the recipe using store bought rice cakes.

Ingredients
1 Packet Rice Cakes
300 ml Water
400 gms Brown Sugar

Preparation
1. Boil the water in a saucepan.
2. Add the brown sugar and stir to dissolve, continue boiling, as the water boils off, the pan will get hotter than 100 degrees and the sugar will start to change.
3. There are two choices here, I like to eat this with a fudge coating, but it’s common in Thailand to get this with a toffee swirl instead.
4. To check the progress of the sugar, take a bowl of cold water and drop spoonfuls of the boiling sugar in to see what stage it is at. If you have a sugar thermometer, then for toffee you need 150-160 degrees Celsius and for a fudge you need 115-120 degrees.
5. Once you have the sugar at the correct stage, take a sppon and make swirls on the rice cakes. The leave to cool

This is a dry baked chicken curry, served with plenty of salad and vegetables.

Ingredients  for 2 People
5 Chicken Legs
2 Teaspoons Yellow Curry
3 Garlic Cloves, Chopped
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Pepper Corn
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Chicken Stock Cube
10 gms Sliced Onion
2 Cup of Precooked Fragrant Rice
1 Teaspoon Oil

Preparation
1. Clean the chicken legs and dry it on kitchen paper.
2. Mix the chicken legs with 1 teaspoon of the curry powder, all of the garlic, salt, sugar, and stock cube together and leave it for 1-2 hours to marinade.
3. Preheat the oven to 190 degree celsius, put the chicken and marinade into a baking tray and bake for 45 minutes.
4. While thats cooking, mix the cooked rice with the remaining curry powder and fry in a little oil for 1 minute. Turning all the time.
5. Pack the rice into a foil cup or similar, and bake it for 10 minutes.
5. Fry the sliced onions until they are brown and set aside.
6. Serve the chicken, rice and vegetables together and garnish the rice with the onions.

This curry comes from the Muslim area of Thailand, the south, near the border with Malaysia. It is a chicken curry, made with rice and coconut milk, served with a spicy ginger side sauce. Imagine Paella crossed with Thai spices and that is very close to the style of this dish.

Ingredients  for 2 People
200 gms Chicken Legs
350 gms Thai Rice
1 Teaspoon Curry Powder
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Coconut Milk
2 Tablespoons Oil
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
400 ml Chicken Stock

Preparation
1. Clean the chicken legs and score the meat with two or three deep cuts to help it cook.
2. Put the oil into a frying pan and fry the chicken legs until the chicken is part cooked and the skin is browned.
3. Add the coconut milk, salt, curry powder and cinnamon, into the pan and mix it together for a few seconds over the heat.
4. Turn off the heat.
5. At this point you should move the chicken and sauce into a pan suitable to cook the rice in. In Thailand we use automatic rice cookers, and we simply move the chicken and sauce into the rice cooker, however a boiling pan will work equally well.
6. Add the rice, add the chicken stock, the chicken stock must completely cover the rice and submerge it by 2cm or more, if it does not, add water or more stock.
7. Cook on a low heat until the rice has absorbed the liquid and is completely cooked.

Serve With
Ginger sauce
Cucumber
Tomato

Ginger Sauce

Ingredients  for Ginger Sauce
20 gms Ginger
5 Small Bird Chillies
3 Garlic Cloves
2 Tablespoons Soya Bean Sauce
1 Teaspoons Salt
1 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Tablespoons Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce

Preparation for Ginger Sauce
1. Mix all ingredients in a food processor and blend until fine.
2. Serve, yes it’s that simple.
3. This sauce can be kept in the fridge and will last months, it is a common condiment for several Thai dishes, so you may wish to make up a batch and store it.