My relationship with these tasty little nuggets began at a Chinese buffet way back in junior high, somewhere in Illinois.  I had no clue what they were, why they were only available for certain parts of the year, and couldn’t figure out what this goop was inside that I liked so much.  I now know the secret answers to these questions, and I’d love to reveal them to you…

These are sesame balls (similar also to the popular Japanese treat Mochi).

Click for a basic recipe.

Sesame balls are really only served during holidays, namely the Chinese New Year.  Since the New Year was celebrated on Feb 14th of this year, I have been lucky enough to find them for the whole last week here in Singapore.  This makes for a very happy me, of course.  As with many items served during the New Year celebration season, these little dumplings have a meaning behind them.  Not only are sweets meant to wish good fortune for the upcoming year, but their golden color and round shape are thought to be lucky.  Another interesting fact is that the balls of dough tend to puff up dramatically as they fry, so they also indicate a growing possibility or opportunity in the coming future, something that will start out small and become large enough to turn a profit.

Sesame balls also range in size from slightly smaller than your average doughnut hole to about the size of your fist.  No matter how big they are, it’s quite difficult to eat only one!  The outside of a sesame ball consists of a stretchy dough made from glutinous rice flour, then moistened and rolled completely in sesame seeds.  When formed and fried, the dough generally puffs up to several times its original size, remaining soft and chewy on the inside.  Depending on the method and length of time frying, sesame balls can either have a nice snap to their outer shell or be soft like a dumpling.  (It also depends on how long they’ve been sitting out on your buffet line!)

As you can see from the picture above, there’s another surprise lurking within these little fried balls of dough, and, no, it’s not jelly or Bavarian cream.  The most common filling (and the one you are likely to see on your local Chinese buffet) is red bean paste.  Wait, beans?  Yes, beans.  They are actually rather sweet, and when mashed into a paste, quite enjoyable!  These are my personal favorite.  You can also find some that are solid, without filling (where’s the fun in that?), as well as others filled with a mixture of crushed peanuts and dark sugar syrup (had one of those 2 nights ago, the size of my fist).

If you couldn’t tell already, I absolutely love this snack, and I want all of you to share in the same joy I have each time I bite into one of these little things.  Next time you’re at a Chinese restaurant or local buffet, give sesame balls a whirl.

]]> http://www.unglamorouslove.com/2010/02/tasty-tuesday-sesame-balls/feed/ 2 http://www.unglamorouslove.com/2010/02/first-newsletter-of-2010/ http://www.unglamorouslove.com/2010/02/first-newsletter-of-2010/#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:09:31 +0000 Sara http://www.unglamorouslove.com/?p=614 Goodness has it been busy around here!  Here’s our latest newsletter, sent out at the end of January.  If you would like to receive your own copy via e-mail or snail mail, feel free to sign up here.   If you have signed up previously, but are yet to receive any communication, go ahead and fill it out again, but make note of it in the comments section, as we are still working through all of the hiccups in our mailing system.  Thanks!

Click image above to download newsletter.

So, instead, this week we’ll talk about the Superbowl.  Now, to be completely honest, I could care less about the actual game itself.  I learned a long time ago from my mom that the food, fun, family and friends that happen to all come together on game day are way better.  But, this year, we weren’t around to take part in any of the festivities.  In fact, while the rest of you were chowing down on evening grub while watching the game, we were already beginning the next day on our side of the globe.  Instead of watching the kickoff at 6:25pm on Sunday, Brook got up early to watch it at 6:25am Monday (while I stayed happily perched on my pillow) on a live stream online.  Weird, huh?  Once I actually realized it was Superbowl time (the lack of distinct seasons kind of messes with my sense of time over here), all I could think about was all the food I would be making if we were back in the States.  All the menus, the dips, the people we would invite into our home to eat and yell at the television together…

But, we weren’t there, and there was no way I would be able to do all that cooking over here as a consolation – too expensive, wouldn’t be able to find half of what I’d need, and it would be way too much for the two of us to eat so early in the morning.  I decided instead to choose one thing that I would be able to find every ingredient for and wouldn’t break our food budget.  After all, we had to make it feel like home somehow, right?  The pea salad I made one day out of desperation (meaning only a few things in my kitchen to work with) in college won the battle.  And no, we didn’t eat it for breakfast.  We saved it for supper.

Here it is.  Simple, cold, yummy.  Inspired by the flavors I love so much in a classic 7 Layer Salad.  I think that’s what I really wanted the first time I made this, but what ended up going into the bowl was all I had on hand in the apartment.  Doesn’t matter, I still like it!  So what’s in it?  Well, I don’t have any exact measurements (because I rarely actually measure things), but I can give you a general idea of what to throw in, and you can adjust it according to your own tastes, ok?

• One bag of frozen peas, fully thawed (You may give them a brief hot water bath, if you like, to speed up the process, but don’t actually cook them, or they’ll get mushy.  They need to be crisp!)
• 5 or 6 slices of bacon, cooked, drained & crumbled (I like to dice it before cooking – easier, nicer-looking, and no crumbs)
• 2 or 3 eggs, hard-cooked & diced
• A bit of onion, whatever variety you like, diced in small pieces (not minced, not big chunks)
• Some cheese, also diced – I prefer a medium cheddar or colby
• Enough Miracle Whip to make it creamy, but not overwhelm the rest of the ingredients
• A splash of lemon juice
• Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Like I said before, I don’t really have any exact amounts on anything other than using an entire bag of peas.  Everything else is up for interpretation, up to your own tastes.  Fun or intimidating?  I know, I know, I really ought to start writing things down when I’m cooking… it’s getting a bit difficult to replicate meals in my mind when people ask for recipes.  I promise I’ll work on this.

Now that you know what we ate to battle our homesickness during the Superbowl, it’s your turn to tell me what it was that you enjoyed back there in the States.  Did you go to a party, did you stay at home, did you even acknowledge the day or just go about your daily business?  If you hosted or attended a gathering, what did you bring?  I’m curious to know!

A few days ago, I was taking my usual look at foodgawker.com, a site that seems to collect a photo thumbnail for daily posts on a very wide range of food blogs.  It’s fun to check in each day and see what people are writing about.  This is another form of “therapy” for me, seeing as I do not have a proper kitchen of my own to work in anymore.  I seem to live vicariously through the joys of others as they seek to create quality recipes and share them with the rest of the world.  I really have learned a lot about different cooking techniques and ingredient combinations through it all as well.  This is good.

Anyways, there just so happened to be a photo of these incredibly fun looking pinwheel-type cookies and a link to a site called SprinkleBakes where I could find out the story behind them.  Naturally, I clicked and read away.  Soon after reading through the ingredients required to make such cookies, I decided I needed to bake them for myself.  I could actually find everything I needed here right in my part of town, the recipe required a bit of skill and concentration in order to properly execute the spiral design, and well, they just looked cool.  Since our weekly fellowship group was cancelled due to most of the group travelling, I had extra time and the project was slated for this evening.

This is what I made.

It’s a buttery, shortbread-like cookie with a strawberry swirl (the pink part).  Aren’t they just lovely?  This is why I had to make them.  If only you could have seen how antsy I was to get them out of the oven and cooled so I could take these photos. Something about a fun pink spiral encrusted in multi-colored sprinkles just screams “share me!”  And that is precisely what I am going to do with them.  Share.  Strangely enough, I don’t enjoy eating sweets as much I enjoy preparing them and giving them away.  I guess that’s good for the ol’ waistline, huh?

Another wonderful thing about this particular recipe is that you can pretty much use whatever colors and flavors you want!  Chocolate swirl + crushed Oreo edges, orange swirl + crushed candies, green swirl + pistachios… Hey, Colts fans, you could even make them with a blue swirl and roll the outside in blue & white sugars!  How’s that for customization.

Just look at these little beauties.

I think it would be hard to be in a bad mood with these things staring you down.

Although it’s bright magenta skin with green pointy scales may look frightening, the inside of this particular fruit is rather friendly.  There are 2 different types of pink dragon fruit – one with a white interior (the most common), and the other with a shade of pinkish red matching the outside.  The one with a darker interior is what you are probably more accustomed to seeing in the States, but in juice form.  I’ve heard that there is another variety featuring yellow flesh both inside and out, but I’ve never actually seen it for myself.  Who knows.

Another interesting bit about this fruit is how it grows.  The dragonfruit is actually the product of a certain type of cactus.  It is a long, windy variety of cactus that tends to grow upward (climbing something else, such as another tree or sturdy plant, or a pole in farming situations), then droop down much like a Weeping Willow Tree.  The fruits start out as a beautiful, large, white flower at the ends of each spine before evolving into the brightly colored orbs we can later eat.

————————————————————

When searching for the perfect piece to bring home from the market, the process used to choose a dragonfruit is quite similar to choosing a ripe avocado. It must not be too hard, able to be squeezed gently, and have a deep, rich color to it. A lady at a nearby open-air market taught me that the deeper the color of the skin, the sweeter the fruit would be. Lighter skin implies a more tart flavor, and apparently, that’s what some (in my opinion strange) people like.

The easiest way to enjoy a dragonfruit is to simply slice it in half, like the picture above, and scoop out the inside in as near to one piece as you can get.  Then, you may proceed to cut it into cubes or slices for eating.  Even cooler is that you could even re-use the skin as a bowl to serve up the pieces!  The texture of a dragon fruit is similar to that of a kiwi, in that it is scoopable and has many tiny edible seeds within it.  The flavor is quite mild, yet sweet, and tastes best when chilled.  I once heard someone else describe the taste as a cross between a kiwi and cucumber.  Whatever it is, it’s refreshing and I like it.

So, now you know about dragonfruit.  If there ever comes a time that your local supermarket carries this, you no longer have an excuse not to try it.  Go ahead, you just may like it, too!

Friday morning held much of the same, though my voice was a bit squeakier than the day before, rendering itself quite useless by lunchtime.  My lessons therefore consisted mostly of writing, listening to my teacher, and the occasional soft words from myself in an attempt to rest my throat and protect what was left of my voice.  Frustrating, yet still workable.

Saturday.  I woke to find myself completely without the ability to make sound.  Usually people will say “oh, I lost my voice,” yet they are still able to at least softly mutter these words themselves.  But for me?  No.  Nothing.  Absolutely nothing at all.

Unnerving.

I have never been to the point where a whisper, sounds only made by breath, are all that will willingly come forth from my mouth.  Needless to say, I had to cancel my lessons for the day, as it is pretty much impossible to have a one-on-one session in conversational Thai when one member of the party is unable to actually converse.  The funny thing was, though, that I still had to go to the school to cancel, because I had no voice to call it in!  Irony in some form, I suppose.

I spent the day mostly in silence, no longer even trying to communicate for fear of damaging what ever was already going on even further.  Fine, whatever, I’ll just stay home and let the Mr. make jokes about not being able to hear me.  No big deal, right?  But wait, I had wanted to go out to visit our neighbor at his fruit stand tonight and find out how he’d been while we were gone…  I’ll just make sure Brook is along so he can do the talking.  Perfect.

So, on our way out for supper Saturday night, we planned to stop by and visit with Thaweep, our older neighbor from across the road.  He was with a customer, so we opted to wait until after supper.  Eat, pay, finish, time to walk back home.  He was free when we passed the second time, and to his delight we stopped to visit with him.  He was all smiles and had questions ready for us about our trips and how everything had gone for us.  Trouble is, when he looked at me for a response, I didn’t quite know what to do.  I tried to use hand motions and mouth the words in Thai to him to explain that I had lost my voice, but it took Brook saying something to confirm the details for him.  He was instantly concerned for me, and began giving me tips (in Thai, of course) on how to soothe and remedy my situation.  He really is a kind man.  A few minutes later, he dismissed us as he deemed I needed to rest, and we said our goodbyes for the night.

There are times when I (ashamedly) will avoid seeing people as a result of my fear and lack of confidence in speaking Thai.  There are times when my anxiety over getting only so far in a conversation before my vocabulary runs out, then ending it an awkward and abrupt manner, keeps me from stepping out when I probably ought to.  Strangely, I thought this sudden illness could be my way out, a way for me to still be interacting with others, yet have an excuse not to say anything to embarrass myself.

But, this is one time where I really wanted to be able to speak.

I had the words.  I had the vocabulary and grammar structures.  I had the sentences and answers all right there running through my mind.  I had a friendly neighbor waiting to hear from me… but, I had no voice.

My ability to make sound is slowly returning this morning, though I still plan on resting my voice until school tomorrow.  I want it to heal properly and smoothly.  But, you better believe I’ll be going to visit our neighbor again to both thank him for his advice on how to get better, as well as to continue building the friendship we’ve started.  I think this was some strange sort of motivation for me to not hide my ability to speak anymore…

Thailand is known for having some of the most beautiful panoramas, brilliant sunsets, and excellent underwater sporting in the world.  We were blessed with some wonderful gifts from home to add to the money we’d already been saving ourselves for this short holiday, and as soon as we knew we had enough, we knew precisely where we wanted to go – Krabi.  Virtually every picture you see of Southern Thailand’s beaches, soaring cliffs, and spectacular sunsets come from Krabi and it’s surrounding islands (Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lanta, Koh Kai, etc.)… but, this time we were lucky enough to witness these scenes ourselves.

Sometimes, you don’t really know how badly you need a break until you’re finally there, and boy did we need a break.  Our bodies and minds had all but shut down by the end of our visa run in Malaysia (immediately prior to our week of holiday).  How wonderful it was when we finally arrived at Ao Nang and started thinking of the week we had ahead of us!  Now, some of you may already know a bit of what we did, how we enjoyed what was around us, as well as a few of the “adventures” we had along the way, but for those of you who don’t, I’m going to lay it out in bullet form for you.  Ready?  Ok.

• First afternoon, we arrived at our hotel in Ao Nang to find out we’d been given a complimentary room upgrade, and were very pleased with it.  Staying 10-15 minutes walking distance from the beach and using online pricing services allowed us to stay comfortably for quite cheap already, so this was a wonderful bonus!  Later, we enjoyed some great grilled chicken on the beach about a 20 minute walk down the road from our hotel.
• First full day was spent doing absolutely nothing at all on West Railay Beach.  Not far from Ao Nang, West Railay is a beautiful stretch of sand that is surrounded on 3 sides by sheer cliffs and jungle, making it accessible only by longtail boat.  Pure bliss.
• Day 2 we decided to hop on an all day tour of islands, famous bays, and hit a few snorkeling spots.  The fish were incredible, and the water was unbelievably clear.  We stopped at a couple of famous movie locations as well – the first was Phang Nga, known unofficially as “James Bond Bay,” as the 1974 Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun was shot there, and the other was Maya Bay where Leonardo DiCaprio’s film The Beach was made.
• The sand at Maya Bay was like baby powder, so white, so soft, so clean… and so deceptive.  Why?  It was here, in perhaps the most beautiful place I will ever visit in my life, that I kicked a tree root hidden in the sand, split my toe open, and lost an entire nail.  Ha!
• Days 3 & 4 were spent with me hugging the throne in our beautiful hotel bathroom.  Lucky me, I got a violent case of food poisoning (most likely from lunch on the tour the previous day), and was forced to stay inside while Brook was a good sport and took care of me.  We made a visit to a local doctor as soon as I was able to leave the room, and he filled me up with enough meds to get me better, back out to the beach and finally eating again.  Oh, and he cleaned about a pound of sand out of my busted toe, too.  But, the upside to all of this?  At least the bathroom I had to live in was 100 times nicer than the one we have in Lopburi, and it had a bathtub to relax my sick self in.  Good deal.
• Day 5 was back to Railay, lots of water and meds in hand, for another day of blissful nothingness.  I think we played about 3 hours of frisbee out in the water, not kidding.  It felt good to be back out in the sunshine relaxing, laughing, and having some fun with the Mr.
• Day 6 we took it easy in the morning and headed out for a sunset snorkel tour around 2pm.  This trip was far more relaxed and had much fewer people than the tour earlier in the week.  We jumped out in 3 different locations, very protected from the other tourist areas, so each was filled with colorful coral and vegetation and some of the most brilliantly hued sea creatures I have ever seen.  I even found Nemo!  One stop also had a cave where Brook, the experienced Scuba diver, guided me along and took me far under the water to see the giant schools of fish and sea urchins below.  I don’t think the snorkeling would have been quite as amazing as it was, had he not encouraged me to go under the water and go outside of what I though I could do.
• After several snorkel stops, sunset on a tiny uninhabited island, and delicious Thai green curry for supper with new friends, it was time for the bioluminecsence swim.  We were taken to another sandy-bottomed, protected area under some cliff overhangs after it had become completely dark.  Upon jumping in the water, we were instantly surrounded by tiny flickering blue orbs of light.  It was incredible!  (If you’ve seen the movie Avatar, think of how the jungle lit up at night.)  With every movement I made, thousands of these tiny blue sparkles (actually a species of plankton) appeared in the dark ocean water surrounding me.  It was almost as if I was wearing them.  Even more incredible was when I put on my mask, and looked down into the blackness below and saw my legs glowing.  (And yes, for a brief moment I pretended I was Ariel when she was turning from a mermaid into a human… and that is still my favorite Disney cartoon!)
• Our last morning, we slept in, packed up, and took our last chance to sit and chat with the Thai staff at our hotel.  They were more than accommodating to us and took great care to check in on me when I was ill.  It’s amazing to see what knowing how to speak Thai and actually interact with people can do when you travel.

So, there you have it.  Our week of rest was wonderful, even despite my little speedbumps.  We both were able to get a great deal of rest, as well as spend some time just enjoying one another again.  Between all the stresses of language learning, support budgeting, daily cultural adjustments, the busy holidays/ministry season that just passed, and all else, it’s easy to lose each other in all that mess.  This was kind of the honeymoon we wished we’d been able to have a few years ago, and I am ever so thankful for it.

Now, back to daily life.  Back to language study.  Back to learning how to live our lives here in Thailand.  And soon, it’s time to travel again!

Here’s some shots from my Flickr of our trip in Southern Thailand.  For captions, please view the set at my actual Flickr page.

So, why will we be lacking in blog love for a little while?

2010 has already held a lot for Brook and I, though it has only been a few weeks, and it surely will not slow down for the next couple of months. Let me give you a brief rundown, so you have an idea of where we are, what we’re up to, and just how you can pray for us. Ready? Let’s go.

• Jan 17-19 – Beginning with this weekend, we fly to Penang, Malaysia to pick up Brook’s official RA Long-term Visa for Thailand.  The process of getting an RA (Religious Affairs) Visa is quite lengthy, and we are quite lucky to have gotten ours so soon (6 months in the making), just in time for our current visas to expire. RA Visas must be retrieved in a neighboring country, and we must be there for at least 2 business days in order to accommodate for final processing. Once Brook has his visa, we will return to Bangkok and apply for a work permit, which can take up to 3 more months of processing to receive. Then, after we have his work permit, we will be able to purchase a vehicle on our own and, most importantly, I will ride on Brook’s visa from here on out.  This means no more trips to the border every 90 days to renew my multiple-entry visa. Brook will only need to renew it once a year, and will not be required to leave the country to do so.  Having already registered and certified our marriage certificate with the US Embassy in Bangkok, my visa will be automatically renewed under his ticket.  Praise God this came through at just the right time!

• Jan 20 – 27 - Once we return to Thailand, it’s time for us to take our annual leave.  After 4 months of intense travelling and speaking in the States, saying our good-byes, packing up and giving away our lives, moving across the globe, and spending the last 5 and 1/2 months of our time in daily language study, schooling, ministry events, scouting trips, and all-around adjustment to a new life overseas, it’s time for a break.  Before coming to Thailand, I read through the manuals and agreements put forth by the organization we are working with (OMF International), and I discovered that they allow 2 weeks of rest every 6 months or so for their missionaries.  At first, I thought that seemed a bit much, but after being on the field and dealing with the stresses of every day life, I now understand why they give this gift to their workers.  It’s important to remind ourselves that we are still human, and we need to take time to recharge ourselves if we want to remain and create a lasting place where ministry can happen.  So, that’s what we’re doing.  We’ll take a week to head south, refresh, recharge, and come back ready to tackle our last few months of language study.  Praise God for an organization that seeks to care for its workers and see them flourish in both life and ministry!

• Feb 2-3 – Shortly after returning from our period of rest, we have a conference for the workers of Central Thailand.  We will take these days to worship, celebrate, and pray together for all of Central Thailand, its people, and its workers.  The conference will be held not too far north of our current city of Lopburi.

• Feb 15 – March 14 – It’s time for us to head to the OMF International Headquarters in Singapore.  Prior to reaching the field, each new missionary is supposed to spend one month at the Int’l HQ for what is referred to as OMF’s Orientation Course (or OC, as it is better known).  The time spent in OC is meant to help bridge the gap between leaving one’s life in their home country and transitioning to a new life overseas.  There are seminars on language learning, cultural adjustment, member care, medical care, self-assesments, getting to know the staff at HQ, among much else.  Since we were somewhat fast-tracked in our process of getting to Thailand, we were allowed to skip out on this event prior to reaching the field, with the agreement that we would attend at a later date – February.  We are hoping to use this month to reflect on our time in Thailand thus far, get to know more of the OMF International staff, as well as learn more about how to make this missionary life last for the long haul.

Upon returning to Lopburi March 15th, we will resume full-time language study, with plans to be finished by the end of June.  After completing our first year of study, it will then be time for us to move on to another location for our first term in ministry.  As of now, we are exploring some options in the capital city of Bangkok, but we have nothing nailed down yet.  We plan to use our final months in Lopburi to continue examining and praying about which location would be best for us, and move on from there.

As you can see, we have a lot going on!  Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support as we’ve started this journey here in Thailand.  We are so grateful that you have decided to come along with us and have taken an interest in our lives.  As we go through these busy weeks and months ahead, please pray for our safety in travel, adequate refreshment, and clarity as we try to figure out what our next steps should be.

Today was evidence of that.

We had just received our meals at a local street vendor’s shop (similar to the photo above, but with more tables).  Having frequented this particular location over the past 5 months, the owners usually know what we would like to order before we even say it.  We are familiar with one another, and each time we appear, we try to speak with them in Thai just a little bit more.  Today was a day just like any other – walk in, smile, greet one another, and confirm their suspicion as to what we would like to eat.  Next, we chose one of two regular tables, sat down and ordered our beverages.  Wait another 5 minutes or so, and our plates with a piping hot Thai meal are served to us with the traditional bowl of broth and cilantro.  Yum.  But wait, they forgot the sauce… that’s ok, because there’s usually a bottle on the table right behind us.  Scoot the stool back a couple of inches, turn around, reach and grab the bottle.  Proceed to deliver it to Brook, and all is well.

That’s how it usually happens.  But, today?  Oh, today!

This is what I was sitting on, as I do in almost every single street shop or market stall we dine at (though mine was actually royal blue, and lacked those spiffy horizontal reinforcement bars).  Usually, they do their job in keeping one seated at the table, rather than under it, but today my stool failed me.  As I scooted ever so gently backwards, everything went wrong.  You know how people sometimes say that disasters seem to happen in slow motion?  Well, this disaster actually did, and there was nothing at all I could do about it!  As I scooted, the back 2 legs of this rickety old seat buckled inward beneath me, causing me to go straight down to the floor – thankfully, since they bent, I didn’t go totally backwards though!  I felt them bending, could tell I was going down, and was utterly helpless as I watched Brook’s face go into a sudden half shock – half laugh sort of look.

The bustling shop went silent.

So, what does this taller-than-the-average-Thai, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white-skinned foreigner dressed in a flowing black skirt and beads do in such a situation (not to mention in a very face-saving culture)?  Stand up quickly, silently, and gracefully (of course to compensate for the lack of earlier charm).  Then proceed to quickly brush off my skirt, turn around to face the people, put up my hands and say “whoopsie” to release them all to laugh freely.  And they did.  One of the ladies that worked there came and took my old stool to the back of the shop, supplying me with a new one so I could return to my meal safely.

And what do I find Brook doing as I finally collect myself once more and take my seat?  Typing on his iPhone.  Yep, he was tweeting about his wife, the one who is a master at being inconspicuous.  Oh wait.

I couldn’t help but continue laughing as I ate my lunch as I thought about how every person in there would likely go home tonight and tell everyone about the “farang” who fell out of her chair reaching for the chili sauce on another table.

As many of you may already be aware, tropical fruit in about every form always tastes better when you eat it fresh.  Well, isn’t what I buy in the store fresh… after all, it is in the produce section of my grocery store?  Yes, the pineapple, bananas, mangoes, and papayas you buy at home in the States is technically fresh, but – yes, there is always a but – it was most likely picked before its prime, compensating for the time it will spend ripening in transit to you.  Sorry to burst that bubble, but no, your tropical fruit is not as fresh, juicy, and delectable as it truly should be.  (Unless you live in Hawaii or Florida or something, but I don’t think any of you do!)

I have never eaten so much pineapple in my life as I do when I am in Thailand.  Bananas?  Oh, there’s like 10 different kinds to choose from on a daily basis.  Dragon fruit, pomelo, lychee, and pomegranate, please.  Not to mention all the other fruits around here.  So juicy, so flavorful, so refreshing.  Bottom line – tropical fruit tastes a million times better when you’re in the tropics.  Kinda makes sense, huh?

Now, back to the mangoes.

This is the type of mango you are probably used to seeing at your local supermarket back in the States.  It has red, orange, yellow (or a mixture of the three) flesh on the outside, and a brightly hued interior.  They have a large lima bean-shaped seed in the center and smell rather sweet when being cut.  Do you like this type of mango?  I sure do.

Not only do we have this type of mango in Thailand (which is quite lovely paired with rice and coconut milk in a chilled bowl… mmmm), but we also have a green variety as well.  If you take a quick look at the slices on my plate at the beginning of this post, you may already guess that the green mango is a bit stiffer than your regular yellow variety.  This would be because the green variety has less water content than yellow mango, and is not as sweet.  Green mangoes have more of a snap, similar to the texture of jicama or a thin sliced raw potato.  Depending on when the mangoes are picked, they may be either slightly sour and bendy (left side of the plate), or rather bland and crisp (right side).

Green mangoes are also not eaten alone.  The most common dip for any fruit, from pineapple to strawberries to guava, is a mixture of salt, sugar, and finely mashed chili peppers.  Have you ever put salt on your watermelon?  It just seems to make the flavor pop a little bit more.  This is because, as I have been told, the salt helps to reduce the acidity of the fruit you are eating, allowing its sweetness and other flavors to shine through.  The sugar gives it some balance, and the chili is a fun little kick!  (Although, depending on the vendor, the dip can be a bit too salty and overpower any identity the fruit had to start with – so, be careful, as not all dips are created equal.)

Another way to eat your green mango is with a dip I do not yet know the name of.  I do know, however, that I will not ever willingly consume it again.  It has to be an acquired taste, because I don’t know how else anyone could ever eat it.  Upon first glance, this saucy dip appears to be some sort of sweet, cooked down version of brown sugar.  Sounds delicious, right?  I thought so, too… until I got a little bit closer.  Those small rounded bits you see in the bowl are actually the same tiny dried shrimps you find in other common Thai dishes.  Roughly the size of your thumbnail, they are usually not too threatening.  In this dip though, they are about enough to send me running.  Ha!  I was correct in my initial observation about the sauce being brown or palm sugar based, but when cooked with fish sauce and these tiny dried wonders, it becomes a thick, salty, fishy paste.  Hey, some people may like it, and that’s great for them.  It’s just not my cup of tea.

So, there you have it.  Another Tasty Tuesday, and another thing learned about what we eat here in Thailand.

What kinds of tropical fruit have you tried, and what is your favorite?