Thai Lao Steam Bun

Today marks the one year anniversary of Thai & Lao Food blogging. With full time employment and part-time blogging, I am exhausted!

Here is the traditional Thai Lao Steam bun recipe filled with pork, egg, mushrooms, and sweet sausages. I make steam buns on weekends; then I freeze the buns in containers. I would thaw in the fridge overnight and warm in the microwave for 20 seconds. This makes a quick breakfast on the go and I take them to work as a delicious alternative to sandwiches.

Appetizer Recipe: Thai Lao Steam Bun
1 package of steam bun mix. Look for steam bun picture to make sure you have the right package
½ cup sugar
1 cup fresh soy milk
1 tablespoon oil
12 quail eggs or 3 chicken eggs
2 Asian sweet sausages
1 cup ground pork
2 dried shiitake mushrooms soaked in hot water for 20 minutes
2 shallots minced
1 clove garlic minced
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons oyster sauce or hoisin sauce
12 wax paper cut into 2 inches square
2 tablespoons white vinegar

There should be directions on the package of the steam bun. However here are the basic steps:

1. For the Dough - mix the package with fresh soy milk, sugar and oil. Knead dough for 5 minutes. Leave dough aside for 20 minutes. Knead again for 2 minutes and divide dough into 12 equal balls.

2. For Pork Filling - boil quail eggs for 15 minutes or chicken eggs for 20 minutes. Cut large eggs in quarters. Cut sweet sausages into 12 pieces or into very small pieces. For pork filling, add chopped garlic, shallots and mushrooms, salt, pepper, and oyster sauce.

3. Putting it together - Sprinkle flour onto hard surface and roll dough out into a large circle slightly larger than palm of hand. Add eggs, sausages and 1 tablespoon of pork filling. Gather opposite edges and meet in the middle. Pinch dough to seal out any small air holes. Place wax paper under base of steam bun. Place six buns in each stainless steel steaming layer.

4. Add water into steaming pot so it levels 2 inches. Add vinegar and bring water to boil. Add steaming layers with bun over the steaming pot. Steam bun 10 minutes. Lift lid of steamer to remove condensation. Steam another 10 minutes.

Thai Lao Sweet Corn Wrap Dessert

Happy Valentines Day! I want to honour my parents today because "love is in the air". I am very blessed to have parents who build their love on honour and respect. I don't have a memory of my parents fighting nor raising their voices. My parents are like 2 halves who make up one whole. When they are together, they are complete and at home. As I am a product of their love, my work on Thai & Lao Food is a product of their love for me. Happy Valentines Day!

This corn wrap dessert is also known as "khao dome sa-lee". I've mentioned banana leaves and how you can make khao dome (coconut sticky rice in banana leaves). This dessert is very similar but wrapped in corn leaves. You can use banana leaves if you run out of corn leaves.

Dessert Recipe: Thai Lao Sweet Corn Wrap Dessert
3 cups corn kernels
1 cup sticky rice that has been soaked in water for minimum 4 hours and water drained
1 cup sugar
1 cup fresh coconut milk
1 cup tapioca pearls
corn leaves

Discard about 3 layers of the outer corn leaves but save the tender corn leaves. Wash the tender leaves, pat dry, and cut the rough core. Remove corn husk and discard. Wash corn, cut kernels, and place into a large bowl. Add sticky rice, sugar, and fresh coconut milk. Puree until smooth. Add tapioca pearls and mix with spoon. Heat mixture over medium heat to thicken or wait about 2 hours until tapioca pearls thicken mixture. Place 2 tablespoons of mixture in corn leaf. Fold leaf and place into bamboo steamer with folded side down. Steam 20 minutes.

Steam Cassava with Coconut Flakes

Happy American Thanksgiving! If you link to my stats, at the bottom of the page, you'll notice that Americans view my blog most. So this recipe is for the Canadian neighbours.

I've posted Baked Cassava Dessert Squares but here is the steam version. The presentation is a little different because steamed cassava results to a soft and sticky texture. Therefore, it is necessary to toss the steam cassava squares in coconut flakes to keep the squares separated.

Dessert Recipe: Steam Cassava with Coconut Flakes :
1 batch coconut cassava recipe
Thai Lao stainless steel steamer
coconut flakes

Make a batch of coconut cassava recipe and pour into a baking dish. Add 2 ½ inches water into Thai and Lao steamer bottom pot. Place a steaming layer over the bottom pot. Place baking dish of cassava inside steaming layer. Place lid over steaming layer. Place steamer over maximum heat and steam cassava for 30 minutes. Cool then cut into squares. Toss the cassava squares into coconut flakes and place onto serving platter.

Squash with Thai Lao Custard

Happy Thanksgiving Canada! Every year I would bake pumpkin pie from scratch. This year, because of my blog, I decided to bake squash with the coconut custard filling. This traditional Thai and Lao dessert is perfect to serve after a heavy turkey dinner and requires less time than pumkin pie.

Dessert Recipe: Squash with Thai Lao Custard
1 buttercup squash
1 pepper squash
1 coconut custard recipe

Cut the squash in half and remove seeds and soft pulp. Add coconut custard mixture inside squash. Fill custard to the top.
To bake: set oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Place squash filled custard into baking dish. Bake for 1 hour.
To steam: place squash filled custard inside steaming bamboo basket. Cover squash with lid. Add 2 inches of water into steaming pot. Place pot over high heat and steaming basket inside pot. Steam for 45 minutes.

Black Sticky Rice & Coconut Custard Dessert

Today is my 6 months of blogging and I celebrate with with the black sticky rice & coconut custard dessert recipe.

Dessert Recipe: Khao Sung Ga Ya - Black Sticky Rice & Coconut Custard
1 cup fresh coconut milk
1/4 cup sugar
3 cups cooked black sticky rice (see instructions below)
1 batch from the coconut custard recipe

Instructions on how to cook Black Sticky Rice:
Mix 1/2 cup black sticky rice with 1 cup white sticky rice. Soak over night. Steam for 40 minutes.

In a pot over medium heat, add coconut milk and sugar. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add cooked black sticky rice. Break up rice and stir for 20 minutes or until fresh coconut milk is absorbed into rice. Turn heat off. Spread onto serving plate. Cool to room temperature. Spoon coconut custard over black sticky rice.

An alternative method of serving this Thai Lao dessert is to toss coconut flakes over the sweet black sticky rice and serve the coconut custard on the side.

Coconut Custard Dessert

The Thai Lao Coconut Custard Dessert is usually served with black sticky rice to make Khao Sung Ga Ya. Fill a squash with custard to make another popular Thai and Lao dessert. The coconut custard dessert can be served with fresh tropical fruits.

Dessert Recipe: Coconut Custard
4 eggs
½ cup sugar
1 cup fresh coconut milk

In a bowl mix eggs and sugar. Add fresh coconut milk and mix thoroughly.

To bake, set oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Add 1 inch of water into a baking dish. Spoon custard into ramekin. Place ramekin into baking dish. Place in oven for 40 minutes.

To steam, place custard into a bowl. Place bowl into steaming bamboo basket and cover custard. Add 2 inches of water into steaming pot. Place steaming pot on maximum heat. Place bamboo basket and custard onto steaming pot. Steam for 40 minutes.

Thai Lao Black Sticky Rice

Thai Lao Black Sticky Rice is also known as "Khao Gum". Some people call it "purple sticky rice" or "wild sticky rice". Black sticky rice is usually made into dessert or eaten as a main meal. You can also use black sticky rice to make Khao Dome which is coconut sticky rice wrapped in banana leaf.

Make sure, when purchasing black sticky rice, that the label reads "Glutinous" and that it is a product of Thailand. The method of cooking black sticky rice and white sticky rice is the same...by using a bamboo steaming basket and steaming pot. Black sticky rice will stain the bamboo basket and your hands. Do not wash the bamboo basket with soap. The stain will naturally fade over time.

Instructions on how to cook Black Sticky Rice:
Mix black sticky rice with white sticky rice. For one cup of black sticky rice, add two cups of white sticky rice. Soak over night. Steam for 40 minutes.

I have posted Khao Sung Ga Ya which is black sticky rice with coconut custard dessert.

Khao Dome (coconut sticky rice in banana leaves)

In the honour of Father's Day, I post this Khao Dome recipe. Khao Dome is my dad's favourite appetizer. He doesn't like coconut but makes an exception for Khao Dome.

I also honour my grandfather in Paksan Laos. He is in his 100th year! He wakes up before dawn everyday and walks to Wat Lao (Buddhist Temple). Khao Dome would be one of the items he would offer the monks.

In the honour of my father and grandfather because of the wisdom, guidance and love, I post this Thai / Lao traditional recipe. Happy Father's Day!

Recipe for Thai / Lao Khao Dome:
1 cup sticky rice
1 cup fresh coconut milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 plantain sliced
1 package Banana Leaves, washed & trimmed

1. Take one cup of Lao sticky rice. Rinse and drain several times in cold water to remove any debris. Add cold water to cover sticky rice. Let sticky rice soak in cold water overnight or for at least 4 hours.
2. Place a sauce pan over medium heat. Add fresh coconut milk and sugar into sauce pan. Stir to dissolve sugar.
3. Drain water from the sticky rice. Add Sticky rice into sauce pan.
4. Stir rice until coconut milk is absorbed and resembles a thick porridge.
5. Turn heat off and let rice cool.
6. Remove the skin from the plantain. Slice the plantain into nine pieces.
7. Take a sheet of a Banana Leaf that is about the size of a standard paper (8.5"x11").
8. Add one heaping tablespoon of rice into Banana Leaf.
9. Add one slice of plantain over rice
10. Add another heaping tablespoon of rice over plantain.
11. Fold banana leaf as if you are wrapping a gift box.
12. Add two inches of water into the steaming pot. Place the steaming pot on a stove element set to high heat. Place steaming basket into steaming pot. Add Khao Dome in the steaming basket. Place a lid over Khao Dome. Steam Khao Dome for 40 minutes.

Cooking Lao Sticky Rice

Sticky Rice is the preferred rice for Laos and northern Thailand. Sticky Rice is best serve with Classic Thai / Lao Hot Sauce and Lap Lao Beef.

You must serve at least one of the sticky rice dipping sauces when you serve sticky rice:Roasted Tomato Chili Sauce
Classic Thai / Lao Hot Sauce
Eggplant Chili Sauce
Jeow Ba Dek

Unlike Khao Chow which is jasmine rice, sticky rice is always served in a bamboo basket, as seen in the video below. It is traditionally eaten with your hands. The rice should not stick to your fingers when properly cooked. If the rice sticks to your hands, next time, reduce the cooking time because each crop of rice is different.

When purchasing sticky rice, make sure the label states "Glutinous" and that the rice is a product of Thailand.

How to cook Sticky Rice:
1. Rinse the glutinous rice several times to remove any debris.
2. Soak the rice in luke warm water for at least 4 hours or over night.
3. Pour soaked rice into a bamboo steaming basket. If there are any left over sticky rice, separate them into little pieces and dropped on top of the soaked rice. Cover the rice with a lid.
4. Add 2 inches of water into the steaming pot.
5. Place the bamboo steaming basket into the pot.
6. Once the water boils, start cooking time for 20 minutes.
7. Carefully remove the steaming basket from the pot and flip the rice.
8. Cook for another 5 minutes.
9. Mix the rice thoroughly.
10. Serve sticky rice in a bamboo basket, as seen in the picture below.

Left over sticky rice is also used in dessert recipes like sticky rice & cango and khao dome. Aso use left over sticky rice to make grilled sticky rice and egg. Mix white sticky rice with black sticky rice to make khao sung ga ya dessert which is sticky rice with coconut custard.




Coconut Custard