Golden Desserts
Golden desserts or kanom thong shoop is a category of desserts made from egg yolks cooked in syrup. This technique has European-origins wherein nuns used egg whites to starch and clean clothes in the wash, leaving them with an abundance of egg yolks. The Portuguese dish is called fios de ovos or egg threads. This dessert was brought to Thailand by the Portuguese nuns who came on missionaries and became a staple in the Thai royal courts in the 17th century. Many also believe that Maria Guyomar de Pinha, a Japanese-Portuguese noble, was responsible for its rise in popularity as she eventually became the head cook at the royal palace (you can read more about her here).
The cooking technique required an abundance of pure white cane sugar, an extravagance that only royals and wealthy families could afford back then.
It has since morphed into a quintessential Thai royal dessert made with great finesse and ceremony. The syrup used is flavored and scented with pandan and sometimes jasmine flower. Duck eggs are used to boost the vibrant golden color of the resulting dish.
Foi Thong
Med Kanoon
Here are some common desserts:
Foi thong or golden threads: duck and chicken egg yolks are gently siphoned through a sieve directly into hot syrup
Med kanoon or jackfruit seeds: mung bean that has been candied in coconut milk and sugar is rolled into a ball, dipped into egg yolk and cooked in syrup. In the past, it was made with jackfruit seed paste which gave this dish its name.
Thong yip or golden folds: egg yolks are cooked in a round shape then molded into flowers or folds
Thong yod or golden droplets: egg yolks are dropped into syrup (~ the size of a blueberry)
Making med kanoon and foi thong
The flavor of the dessert comes mostly from the syrup. To start, I grabbed a handful of jasmine flowers from the garden and steeped it in a bowl of water to be used in the syrup.
Filtering the sugar to make a pure syrup
Many recipes call for the filtering of the syrup by cooking the syrup with egg shells and then straining it before using. Egg whites are known to absorb impurities in the sugar. I also added a bundle of pandan leaves to boost the floral flavors of the dessert.
Coating and cooking
To make med kanoon, I made a sweet mung bean paste of cooked mung beans that has been blended with coconut milk and sugar. It has a similar texture to marzipan but softer and less oily. The shaped mung bean paste is coated in duck egg yolks and gently boiled in the prepared syrup. Foi thong or golden threads are made with the leftover coating yolks using a funnel to stream the threads (similar to making spaetzle).
