Royal Thai Dessert: Khanom Luk Chup

How cute are these miniature fruits? The gloss just makes it more appetizing, right? These delightful treats are known as Luk Chup or Khanom Luk Chup. Khanom in Thai translates to dessert. In the olden times, these treats are served to the King of Siam and other royalties in the palace as one of the traditional royal Thai desserts. Nowadays, Khanom Luk Chup is widely sold in Thai dessert shops and specialty markets making it available for commoners like me. :)

^{↓ this is my entry to #colourfulphotography contest hosted by @juliank}

The intricacy involved in making these desserts is definitely fit for a royal feast. The main component of this dish is Mung Bean Paste. Mung Bean Paste is a common ingredient in Asian pastries and desserts. It looks something like this ↓

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Making Luk Chup starts with mixing the mung bean Paste with sugar and coconut milk or cream. The fun starts once the desired flavor is achieved. It is then shaped into different miniature fruits like mango, cherry, papaya, chillies, corn, and others. After shaping the paste, you can bring your mini fruits to life by using food coloring. I feel that this part is the most tedious as you need to hand paint each mini fruit. Finally, each mini fruit is dipped in a bowl of dissolved gelatin powder to give it that luscious gloss.

Delectable as it looks, I would say that Khanom Luk Chup may not be for everyone. The bright colors and shiny exterior would initially give you the expectation of a 'fruity-sweet-candy-like' treat. But for me, I would describe the filling to be more on the nutty and savory side. After the initial shock of missing the expected sweetness, you will then feel the grainy, bordering chalky texture of the filling. I actually enjoy this, mainly because these treats are just darn adorable and I don't mind the texture at all. If you are Filipino, I would reference the taste of the filling to our very own Hopia, the taste is so similar (it should be as Hopia filling is also mung bean LOL).

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Apart from the usual miniature fruits, there are also some vendors who would shape it into cute animals like the photo below.

These duckies are soooo cute, I almost did not want to eat it. 😉