Sticky Rice with Banana or Coconut Wrapped in a Banana Leaf

On the way to the Starbucks where I like to use wifi, there is a kind of covered sidewalk market.  I generally try to avoid that side of the street, because what with all of the stalls and the people, and everyone slowing down to take a closer look at the food on offer or to buy stuff, it’s really slow and frustrating to go through that market, and I am not the most patient person known to (wo)mankind.  But on the side of the street opposite the covered sidewalk market is a vendor who has fallen irredeemably in love with me, and every time I walk past, he shouts at me, “Really, I love you.  I love you so much!”  The other night as I walked past him, he took my arm and made me stop and shouted to every single passer-by, “I LOVE THIS WOMAN!  SHE IS SO PERFECT!”  And while the compliment is flattering, it also made me feel uneasy.  Maybe I’m just not used to people liking me.  So today, I crossed on over to the other side of the street to avoid proclamations of love, and as I was picking my way through the covered sidewalk market, I noticed a couple of vendors who had some banana leaf packages roasting on their grill, and well, you might have figured it out by now that I kind of sort of have a little thing for anything which is served in a banana leaf.  So I stopped in my tracks and asked what was inside (sincerely hoping that answer would not be pickled pork), and they told me it was sticky rice with either banana or coconut.  It only cost 10 Baht per packet, so I bought one of each.

Normally, I really love coconut, except there is this kind of pinkish candied coconut which is just too candy-like and I just don’t like it, and that was what was inside the coconut sticky rice, but the banana one was absolutely perfect.  I’ll proclaim it loud and proud to the world: REALLY, I LOVE THIS BANANA STICKY RICE!  IT IS SO PERFECT!

Yellow Noodles with Pork

I had seen this noodle vendor plenty of times before, but she’s much too close to my mataba lady, and usually if I’m on that stretch of sidewalk, I end up making a beeline for the mataba lady.  The other night, though, I looked down at what the people were eating near that stand and just really wanted to have some of it, too.  So I pointed to what one of the guys was eating and said I wanted that, too, and this is what I got.  It came with a bowl of broth, which I’m sure you’re supposed to eat separately from the noodles, but which I’m also sure you could get away with pouring right over top of the noodles and creating your very own noodle soup (and if anyone looks at you askance for doing that, they’ll likely forgive you immediately when they see that you’re just a silly falang).

Banana Pancakes

Pretty much everyone who’s done a circuit of South Asia knows that Jack Johnson’s “Banana Pancakes” is one of the quintessential songs of backpacker hangouts.  And, incidentally, banana pancakes are everywhere in South Asia.  To be honest, as a proud Canuck, this kind of disappoints me.  I mean, when I conceive of a pancake, I think of something about a centimetre thick which is light and fluffy and drenched in a metric ton of maple syrup.  It just ain’t right if it’s thin and dense and drizzled with honey and sweetened condensed milk and topped with bananas.  But that is what you get when you are a traveller in South Asia.  Le sigh.  If you can’t beat ’em, you may as well join ’em.

Peanut Dumpling Thingies

Beside one of my favourite coffee vendors in Banglamphu is a woman who sells peanut dumpling thingies.  I’m not really sure what exactly is inside of these, but she told me peanuts, so let’s go with that (although, if I let the truth be known, they certainly taste like there is much more than just peanuts inside of them).  It’s a pretty interesting process watching this vendor make her peanut dumplings.  I kind of bought some initially because it was so cool to watch her make her peanut dumplings and they looked so pretty in their little plastic to-go containers.  The first time I bought dumplings from this woman, she recommended the type which is pictured up top.  I didn’t love them.  The texture of the dough was just too chewy for me, and I didn’t love having it in my mouth.  I also didn’t realise that there was a little baggie of deep fried garlic which was meant to be dumped on my dumplings before consumption.  My rule of thumb is that if I don’t have a reasonable idea of what it is, I don’t eat it.  But after my Laos adventures, I was more aware of what deep fried garlic looks like, so when I went back to this peanut dumpling lady to try her other kind of dumplings, not only was I wise to the fact that she included some leaves of lettuce and coriander with the dumplings (for a reason– they should be eaten with the lettuce and coriander), but she also included a little baggie of deep fried garlic, so before eating dumplings version numero deux, I dumped that deep fried garlic all over them.  I also grabbed a few extra tiny red chilies from her before leaving her stall, and this action was actually met with a nod of APPROVAL.  I have to say, I still don’t LOVE the texture of the dough wrapped around these dumplings, but eating them with the chilies and the deep fried garlic and the lettuce and coriander made them taste a LOT better.  Like, a lot a lot.

Corn and Red Bean Dutchie-brand Yogurt

When I was in Laos, I discovered a brand of yogurt which I really fell in love with.  Here in Thailand, there is also a popular brand of yogurt (although there is something just so much less hipster about Dutchie Yogurt than there is abou Xaoban Yogurt).  I kind of really like Dutchie Yogurt, though, and at roughly 50 cents for a small container, how can you really go wrong?  I usually just go for their strawberry flavour, or sometimes their tropical fruit flavour.  There is a flavour which I always avoid because, for however much of my life which I’ve spent in Asia, I still haven’t learned to love either red beans or corn in desserts.  I mean, I know that certain vegetables have a fairly high sugar content so they lend themselves well to being incorporated into desserts (carrot cake, anyone?) , and I also know that corn has a high sugar content and is used to make high-fructose/glucose syrup (essentially, corn is an ingredient in nearly ever single pre-packaged food available in North America, even if the ingredients label doesn’t say so outright), but it’s just…. corn in my yogurt?  Really?

But in the interests of food exploration, I decided to give it a go and, just to be safe, I bought a container of the coconut flavour to wash it down with (because coconut yogurt is also purdy darn yummy, too) and, as pretty much always, I was super glad I had some yummy coconut yogurt to wash down my corn and red bean yogurt with.  Food items that have the texture of either red beans or yellow corn both belong in a hearty stew, or in a burrito, but certainly not in my smooth, delicious yogurt.

Tom Kha Gai

Tom Kha Gai is kind of like Tom Yum Gung’s less spicy younger brother.  It’s made with coconut milk, lemongrass, galangal, and chicken (“gai” means chicken in Thai).  It’s delicious and if you don’t like tom yum because you’re not a fan of spicy food, you should at least try tom kha gai when you’re in Thailand as it’s much less spicy than tom yum.

Iced Coffee

Iced coffee is kind of everywhere in Bangkok.  In Asia, when you order coffee, there is a very high probability that the coffee vendor is going to mix some sweetened condensed milk into it, but as a person who was not even remotely a coffee drinker before moving to Asia, that is actually totally fine with me.  I kinda like it with sweetened condensed milk mixed in.  When (or if) I move back to Canada, I’m going to be that eccentric person who insists on keeping a can of sweetened condensed milk around just to pour in my coffee.

Depending on the vendor who you buy from, it can cost anywhere from 20 Baht to 35 Baht, which is about half the price of what you would pay in one of the cute little cafes on Pra Arthit Road and fully a quarter of what you would pay if you got something similar from Starbucks.  What I really love about the iced coffee here in Thailand is the way it is served.  They always slip a plastic “bag” around the cup with a handle so you don’t have to hold on to a cold sweaty cup.  I likes it.  =)

Som Tam Vendor with Yoke

In Myanmar where I live, you see people using yokes all the time to carry heavy loads, but you tend not to see it as much here in Bangkok.  However, I have seen a few ladies using yokes to sell som tam.  When they get a customer, they set their yoke down on the ground, set up their mortar and pestle, squat down, and set to work.  Pretty amazing, I think.

Thai Omelettes

The other day, I randomly walked past a food fair and, well, I couldn’t really pass that up, could I?  One of the stands at the food fair was selling these Thai omelettes, and they were so reminiscent of the Lao omelettes I had in Laos that I felt pretty much obligation to give this a shot.  Well, this omelette was pretty tasty, but it was no Lao omelette, that’s for sure.  Inside, there were peanuts, coconut, tofu, bean sprouts, chives, and one ingredient which I wasn’t sure of.  Whereas the Lao omelette was fully savoury, this Thai omelette was a little bit sweet.  I miss Laos.  I want another Lao omelette…

Green Curry with Vegetables over Rice

I know, I know– I keep talking about being a flexitarian, and then I keep posting all of these meat dishes.  Well, for one thing, being a vegetarian in a lot of parts of Asia is HARD!  For another thing, quite often, the most interesting dishes on the menu involve meat.  I mean, for realises, tell me my pork and rice does not look and sound heavenly (can’t you hear it?)  Or try to convince me this soup is not irresistible.  Or this soup.  Tell me the crocodile pate did not simply need to be sampled.

But I jest.  Here is a vegetarian option I’ll often order in Bangkok.  There is a sidewalk café on Soi Rambuttri where I like to eat from time to time, and the dish I always order is green curry with vegetables over rice.  And I really love it.  See?  Proof that I’m not carnivorious 100% of the time!