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Laughing Doughnuts (ขนมหัวเราะ)

By on January 2, 2013 in She Fries, She Thais, She Veges

This post had been sitting in my draft folder since the first quarter of 2012. Originally, I wanted to post it on May 5th, 2012. However, for reasons too boring to get into, that didn’t work out, and the post that went up on that day turned out to be baked pork tenderloins with gravy, coconut rice, and carrot som tam instead. So I waited for the next best timing: the end of 2012. As you can see, that didn’t work out either. But it doesn’t matter.

Why those dates? Well — and this is a lot sillier than you think — the reason is because the year 2012 CE is the year 2555 in Buddhist Era. This means May 5th, 2012 is numerically written 5-5-55 (๕-๕-๕๕, if you’re going to get all ultra-traditional about it). Now, if you’re familiar with Thai txt-speak, you know that with the Thai word for 5 being “ha” (ห้า*), 555 (hahaha) is the same as LOL. And the key to understanding what I’ve been yapping about is this: these Chinese doughnut holes, each of which displays a gaping “mouth,” are known in Thailand as ‘laughing doughnuts‘ (ขนมหัวเราะ).

Having said that, I’m sure I can’t be the only one who thinks these look more like Pac-Man doughnuts, right?

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Nang Let, Khao Taen: Thai Sweet Crispy Rice Cakes with Cane Sugar Drizzle (ขนมนางเล็ด ข้าวแต๋น)

By on September 24, 2012 in She Deglutenizes, She Drizzles and Smears, She Fries, She Thais, She Veges

They’re everywhere — these little rice cakes with cane sugar drizzle: on the streets, in the supermarket, in snack stores from the upscale ones to the not-so-upscale ones. The only explanation for this is that people like them. A lot. And it’s not difficult to see why.

With these sweet rice cakes being so ubiquitous, I’d never learned to make them until I came to the US. Nobody in my family made/make them either. Many street foods — most of them, if you ask me — are best left to the pros. Pad Thai, for example, is not generally a family dish which people make at home. Nang Let (also spelled Nang Led) or Khao Taen (in the Northern dialect) isn’t either, though it’s possible that it might have begun in the Northern (or even Northeastern) region as a way of repurposing old, leftover sticky rice in the pre-microwave days.

But I had to learn how to make these, because they’re not available in the US. Trader Joe’s used to import them from Thailand, but they had dropped this product after a while — at least that’s the case with the stores in my area. This post is brought to you by — that’s right — desperation and deprivation. Continue Reading →

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Pa Thong Ko: Thai-Style Chinese Crullers (ปาท่องโก๋)

By on August 30, 2012 in She Fries, She Kneads, She Thais, She Veges

I chuckled when reading up on the history of these Chinese crullers, you tiao (油条), which have been localized in Thailand into Pa Thong Ko (ปาท่องโก๋).

According to the widely-circulated Chinese folk etymology, these pairs of dough sticks apparently represent two evil people who deserve to suffer in hot oil. To the Thai people, the conjoined crullers represent something cuter and more romantic: a couple who are deeply attached to one another and seen together all the time. Symbols and figures of speech behave like that across the various cultures. The Zealous Water Buffalo, my alter ego, has written about these things.

Another funny thing about Pa Thong Ko: it is a misnomer resulted from confusion on the Thai’s part over the various goodies sold by Chinese immigrants from years ago; it’s not even a localized pronunciation of the original Chinese, but a wrong name altogether. We could have gone with something close to you char kway (油炸粿) or something similar to that as the Chinese words that have entered our vernacular often come from the Hokkien or Teochew dialects. But, apparently, a mistake was made a while back and it has stuck with us ever since. In other words, unless you speak to someone who knows Chinese, your inquiry about youtiao or you char kway in Thailand will be met with a,”Huh?” Continue Reading →

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