Thai Desserts for Summer Recipes

There’s no better way to celebrate the summer weather than with some fruity and light, yet delicious desserts! Many Thai desserts do not use ‘sweet’ ingredients such as caramel and chocolate like Western dishes do, instead relying on fresh fruit ingredients. Common ingredients in Thailand include mango, coconut and tapioca, which are used in all of these tasty recipes.

Mango Sorbet

You will need:

5 mangos

2 limes

300g granulated sugar

350ml water

Method:

1. Halve, peel and cut the mango, so that all of the flesh can be scooped out.
2. Grate zest from the limes and then juice them.
3. Add the mango, sugar, water, lime juice and zest into a blender and combine until smooth.
4. If you have an ice cream maker, pop the mix in and follow the instructions for your maker. If you do not have an ice cream maker, then pour the mix into a freezer-safe container and cover. Return every half an hour, for four hours, and whisk or hand blend it for the same effect. Put the container in a freezer for around 8 hours until it has hardened up.

Tapioca Coconut Pudding

You will need:

1 tin of coconut milk

230g tapioca pearls

500ml milk

1 mango, diced

2 egg yolks

3 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp lime juice

Zest from 1 lime

½ vanilla bean, or teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Put the milk, tapioca and vanilla into a large saucepan and simmer over a medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tapioca is translucent.
2. Add in the coconut milk and whisk to combine.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar. Whisk the egg mixture into the saucepan gradually and cook over medium heat, for about five minutes, until thick.
4. Put the mixture in a bowl and allow to cool.
5. In a separate bowl, mix the mango, lime zest and juice together. Put half of the mixture into a blender and puree.
6. Combine the pureed mango with the remaining mango mixture and put half into 4 glasses or bowls. Pour on the tapioca mix and then add the remaining fruit mix on top.
7. Cover the puddings and pop them in the fridge for a couple of hours so that they are perfectly chilled before serving!

Fried Bananas

You will need:

10 bananas, peeled

100g white rice flour

30g tapioca flour

25g white sugar

50g shredded coconut

290ml water

Enough oil to deep-fry, around 500ml

Method:

1. Mix together the flour, tapioca, sugar and coconut in a large bowl. Slowly begin to pour in the water, a little at a time, and stir as you go until the mix resembles a thick batter.
2. Heat up the oil in a wok, large pan or deep-fryer to around 190 degrees Celsius.
3. Cut each of the bananas lengthways into about 3 strips, so they are thinner.
4. Coat each of the banana pieces completely in batter and fry until golden. Place on a piece of kitchen roll to drain off any excess oil, then serve immediately with a scoop of tasty coconut ice cream!

If you would like to try other Thai food in the UK, check out the full range we have available at Oriental Mart!

Image Credit: Jessica Merz

Image Credit: Huyzee Vu (Image)

Image Credit: monica.shaw