Seven Thai desserts worth knowing, from mango sticky rice to foi thong

Thai desserts you will meet most often fall into two families. The first is built on flour, coconut milk and sugar: bua loi, lot chong, khanom chan. The second is built on egg yolk and sugar syrup: thong yip and foi thong, which come from Portuguese egg sweets. This article covers the seven easiest to find, what goes in them, when to eat them, and what matters if you have a food allergy.

Seven desserts in one table

Dessert	Thai	What it is made of	How it is served
Mango sticky rice	ข้าวเหนียวมะม่วง khao niao mamuang	Steamed sticky rice mixed with coconut milk, sugar and salt, with ripe mango	Cool or room temperature
Bua loi	บัวลอย	Glutinous rice flour balls boiled until they float, in sweet coconut milk	Warm
Thapthim krop	ทับทิมกรอบ	Diced water chestnut, dyed red, boiled in tapioca flour, in coconut milk	Over ice
Lot chong	ลอดช่อง	Green rice-flour strands coloured with pandan, in coconut milk and coconut sugar	Over shaved ice
Khanom chan	ขนมชั้น	Tapioca flour, rice flour and coconut milk, steamed layer by layer	Sliced; peel the layers if you like
Thong yip	ทองหยิบ	Egg yolk dropped in syrup, pinched into a flower shape	Small piece, very sweet
Foi thong	ฝอยทอง	Egg yolk drawn into threads in boiling syrup	Rolled into a bundle, very sweet

Mango sticky rice, a seasonal dessert

Mango sticky rice is steamed glutinous rice mixed with coconut milk, sugar and salt. The coconut milk is heated without boiling, then folded into the rice so it soaks in. It is served with ripe mango; Nam Dok Mai and Ok Rong are the traditional varieties. Some stalls top it with crispy yellow mung beans or toasted sesame.

Thais eat it most in April and May, the peak of mango season. You can find it outside those months, but the mango is usually less fragrant. The next article in this series covers which fruit is in season when.

Bua loi, thapthim krop, lot chong: coconut-milk bowls

These three are served in a bowl on a coconut-milk base. What changes is what floats in it.

• Bua loi are small balls of glutinous rice dough, boiled until cooked and floating, which is where the name (“floating lotus”) comes from. They are served in warm, sweet coconut milk. Today they are often coloured with plants such as pumpkin, taro, pandan or butterfly pea. With an egg cracked in, it is called bua loi khai wan.
• Thapthim krop (“crisp rubies”) is diced water chestnut dyed red and boiled in tapioca flour, crunchy inside and chewy outside, served with coconut milk and ice.
• Lot chong is made from rice flour and coloured green with pandan, served with coconut milk, coconut sugar and shaved ice. Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have a close cousin called cendol.

Khanom chan, the dessert for good occasions

Khanom chan is tapioca flour and rice flour mixed with coconut milk, poured into a tray and steamed one layer at a time. Tapioca makes it soft, chewy and translucent; rice flour makes it hold its shape. The green usually comes from pandan. Nine layers is the favourite, because the Thai word for nine sounds like the word for stepping forward, a wish for progress in life and work. Peeling it apart layer by layer is half the fun.

Thong yip, foi thong and the Portuguese link

The “golden” desserts are mostly egg yolk and sugar syrup. Foi thong is yolk drawn into fine threads in boiling syrup, similar to Portuguese fios de ovos. Thong yip is yolk dropped into syrup and pinched into a flower; it developed from Portuguese trouxa de ovos, which is rolled rather than pleated.

The person usually credited with bringing these into the royal kitchen is Maria Guyomar de Pinha, known in Thai as Thao Thong Kip Ma (1664-1728), of Japanese, Portuguese and Bengali descent and the wife of Constantine Phaulkon. She worked in the palace kitchen during the reign of King Narai.

Foi thong and thong yip are the two desserts most firmly linked to her. Others often credited to her, such as thong yot, sangkhaya and khanom mo kaeng, are disputed: some historians argue they were already known in Siam.

Thong yip, thong yot and foi thong are also among the auspicious desserts served at weddings, ordinations and house-warmings.

Worked example: one bowl against WHO’s sugar advice

WHO recommends keeping free sugars (sugar added to food, plus honey and fruit juice) below 10% of daily energy, and suggests going below 5% for extra benefit. Here it is step by step, assuming 2,000 kcal a day:

1. 10% of 2,000 = 200 kcal
2. Sugar gives 4 kcal per gram, so 200 ÷ 4 = 50 g a day
3. The 5% target is half that = 25 g a day, which WHO puts at about 6 teaspoons

Every stall sweetens differently, and the golden desserts are cooked directly in syrup, so they are very sweet. A dessert bowl plus a sweet drink on the same day can pass the target easily. You do not have to skip them: treat them as a treat, share one, or pick a small size. If you need to manage sugar for a health reason, talk to your doctor or a dietitian.

Allergies and how fresh coconut milk stays

• Egg is in thong yip, foi thong, thong yot and bua loi khai wan.
• Crispy mung beans and toasted sesame may be sprinkled on mango sticky rice without a word. If you are allergic, ask first and ask them to leave it off.
• Coconut is in almost every dessert here. With a coconut allergy, ask for each bowl.
• Freshness. Coconut-milk desserts are cooked foods that spoil easily. WHO’s Five Keys say not to leave cooked food at room temperature for more than 2 hours, and to chill it below 5°C if you keep it. Bought at 2 pm and home at 4 pm? Eat it or refrigerate it right away.

More on allergies in Thai food: Eating Thai food safely with a food allergy.

Common mistakes

• Assuming Thai desserts are egg-free. The golden family is almost all yolk.
• Leaving a coconut dessert in a hot car. Coconut milk turns sour fast. Buy it last, just before you head home.
• Thinking the salty coconut sauce is a mistake. The salt is part of the recipe.
• Crediting every egg dessert to one cook. Only a few links are firm; the rest is retold legend.

Summary

Remember two families: flour and coconut milk, and egg yolk and syrup. Mango sticky rice is best in April and May. Eat coconut desserts within two hours or chill them. With an egg, peanut, sesame or coconut allergy, ask every time.

Sources

• Guideline: sugars intake for adults and children — WHO
• Five keys to safer food manual — WHO
• Maria Guyomar de Pinha — Wikipedia
• Mango sticky rice — Wikipedia
• Khanom chan — Wikipedia
• Thapthim krop — Wikipedia