Thai Cuisine Recipe

Tamarind is a very sour fruit, you can see them in the left of the photograph. This drink is made from Tamarind pulp, the brown date like pulp used to add a sour taste to Thai food. It is a combination of sourness and sweetness.

Ingredients
40 gms Brown Sweet Tamarin Pulp
400 ml Boiled Water
A Pinch of Salt
100 ml Sugar Syrup
50 gms Crushed Ice

Preparation
1. Mix the tamarind pulp and water together, in a blender.
2. Bring to the boil, add the salt and syrup, stirring as it warms up.
3. Leave to cool.
4. Sieve to remove any pulp.
5. Serve over crushes ice.

One of the nicest ways to drink coconut juice is roasted over a fire or barbecue. For this you will need the young green coconut (not the brown husk older coconut). Cut off the outer husk as much as you can, then place it in the coals and keep turning it until its blackened and roasted all over.
It's very easy to open after it's roasted, you can simply push a knife into the eyes of the coconut and pour out the juice. Drink it while it's warm.

I want to show you some of the many Thai drinks we have, and try to recreate the flavours of them. This one has a smooth cream soda like taste with a slight acidic after taste. The ingredients list says soda, sugar and a little drinking yoghurt, but when I tried that it didn't work. After some experimentation I found that full yoghurt is needed to get the creaminess, and that a squeeze of lemon juice adds the bite.

Ingredients
500 ml Soda Water
50 ml Sugar Syrup
4 Tablespoons Yoghurt
Squeeze Lemon Juice.

Preparation
1. Use a thick sugar syrup, you don't want to dillute the soda too much.
2. Chill all the ingredients.
3. Mix the yoghurt and sugar syrup, then stir it into the soda, then add a squeeze of lemon juice. Not too much lemon or the yoghurt will curdle.
4. Serve immediately.

I wasn't sure whether to put this under 'drinks' or 'desserts'. It is a cone of shaved ice, with the Thai drink syrup known as 'Hales Blue Boy' (Helbruboy) poured over it and dressed with condensed milk. The taste is sweet and creamy, like an ice cream version of cream soda.

Ingredients
150 gms Shaved or Crushed Ice
2-4 Tablespoons Hales Blue Boy Drink Syrup
1-2 Tablespoons Condensed Milk

Preparation
1. Make a cone of crushed ice, I pack it into a beaker and upturn the beaker normally.
2. Pour some of the drink syrup over it.
3. Drissle some condensed milk over the top.

Serve With
Sunshine
Hot Summer Days

This is considered a health drink in Thailand, it's supposed to be good for cleansing the stomach and helping digestion. You can see Bael fruit, it's available dried in packets from Asian grocers. Serve warm or cold.

Ingredients
4-6 Dried Matoom Pieces
4-6 Tablespoons Sugar
400 ml Water

Preparation
1. Boil the water in a pan.
2. Add the matoom and continue simmering for 15 minutes.
3. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved, adjust the sweetness to your own tastes.
4. Leave to cool.
5. If you want iced tea, chill it in the fridge and serve over crushed ice. For iced tea, it is better to slightly over-sweeten it, as it won't taste so sweet when it's cold.

Bi tua is a Thai green reed that can be purchased in asian grocers. When you pulp it in water, it makes the water green and releases a bubblegum like flavour. This drink is a completely natural taste without any of the artificial flavours of factory made drinks!

Ingredients
20 gms Bi Tua
250 ml Water
120 gms Sugar
50 gms Crushed Ice

Preparation
1. Chop the Bi Tua into 2 cm lengths, put into a food processor together with the water and blend until the fibres are completely broken into the water.
2. Sieve the liquid to remove any pulp, and put into a saucepan.
3. Add the sugar, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, then leave to cool.
4. To serve crush the ice, pile the ice in a glass and pour the drink over it.