I am looking for the perfect ending to a thai-themed meal (that I'm planning to lovingly prepare in my prettiest pink apron on Friday night)? Suggestions would be much appreciated as at present it looks like I'll be serving my guests something *shock, horror* that comes in a plastic tub and was bought at a store because I just can't think of a traditional Thai dessert.
(I even tried engaging @jamie_oliver via Twitter for an answer, seeing as I'm using his recipes for the first two course... but alas! no reply)
I keep thinking that I can't think of one because there isn't one to think of... the Thai people don't look like they indulge in full fat carbs overloaded with processed sugar. I'm pretty sure chocolate brownies with whipped cream and dark chocolate shavings don't share kitchen counter space with fresh limes, ginger, coriander and jasmine-infused rice. See my point?
Anyway, you may be wondering why I am so concerned about solving my dessert dilemma, especially knowing that I'm usually the girl who takes twenty minutes to make dinner – from freezer to serving – and defines cooking as opening the tin or turning the oven on. Well, a handful of times a year I actually cook, yip, you read that correctly, cook... for a few friends who are brave enough to come to The Winderley's humble abode for a dinner party.
I'm a sucker for a theme and I really do enjoy following a recipe, shopping for odd ingredients and figuring out just how I should set the table. The danger is that I have a tendency to get all tied up in the pretty stuff and the carrying out the theme things that I sometimes forget about the food [Okay, you can stop laughing now...]
The good news is that a few past 'let's get takeaways' experiences have taught me to figure out the food first and the fabulousity later. I now make sure that I know what I'm cooking and how I'm cooking it before I have a twenty minute deliberation between the plain white or the damask tablecloth. I've also learnt to do the grocery shopping the day before in case you need to go to every food supplier in town to find lemongrass stalks or coconut cream.
The bad news is that I like my dinner parties to consist of three courses. I like the beginning, middle and end structure... I want the simple elegance of a starter, a main course and a dessert. And, if I choose a theme, I'd really like for all three parts to come from the same country. No point in taking your tastebuds to Paris and then chucking them across the pond into Texas. However, this is easier said than done – especially when the theme decided on is Thai...
I have a starter, I have a main (both of which I plan to make from scratch – unprocessed root ginger, real lemongrass et al) but I don't have the most important course, the I'm sooooo full but I can't not have a little taste course, the I'm soooo gonna have to go for a run tomorrow course, the whole reason for eating proper dinner is to get there course. So please, if you have any suggestions this desperate housewife would be ever so grateful if you would share your culinary wisdom (Oh, and it can't be something that requires baking... 'cos I was so not blessed with the baking gene at birth).
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