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Khanom Krok

After speaking to Michael Laiskonis about vegetable desserts, I started thinking of a few I’ve seen in Thailand. Sometimes it’s fairly straightforward, like grilled sweet potatoes or stewed pumpkin served in warmed coconut milk. Other times it’s been palate-rattling, like the time I had fried garlic sprinkled on top of a sweet egg custard. One of the sweet vessels for vegetables is khanom krok, a mixture of coconut milk, shredded coconut, sugar, flour and salt that’s cooked in a cast iron on the street. Sometimes it’s plain, but often it’s sprinkled with scallions, cilantro or corn. I prefer the corn version. It’s reminiscent of southern corn pudding, which is fitting since khanom krok is translated to coconut pudding. The picture above was not taken in Chiang Mai, where I am now, or Bangkok, where I was this morning, but in Vientiane, Laos, tracing yet another connection between Laotian and northern Thai food.