Khao tom mad

Khao tom mat packed as a pair

Showing the filling

Khao tom mat (Thai: ข้าวต้มมัด, pronounced [kʰâːw tôm mát]) is a Thai traditional dessert made from sticky rice, coconut milk, and bananas. It's usually covered in banana leaf or coconut leaf. Other names for khao tom mat are khao tom kluai, khao tom phat, and khao tom luk yon. Khao tom mat is also found in other countries such as the Philippines.

In Thailand, khao tom mat is the symbol of couples because the couple are matched and bound together with thin bamboo-strip (string).

Thai people believe that if a pair of people offer khao tom mat to monks on Khao Phansa Day, which is beginning of the 3 months of Buddhist lent during the rainy season and the time when monks retreat to a monastery and concentrate on Buddhist teachings, married life will be smooth and there will be a stable love like a pair of khao tom mat.

Khao tom mat is also a traditional Thai dessert for Awk Phansa Day (the end of Buddhist lent in late October.), but it is then called khao ton luk yon. It is wrapped up in a palm leaf with long-tails to hold before tossing them to a Buddha image, after which monks can carry them away.

References

• Ramsay, Gordon. Gordon’s Great Escape Southeast Asia: 100 of my favourite Southeast Asian recipes. Retrieved 2013-09-08.
• "เมนูขนมไทย-ขนมหวาน | Wiparat Food - Part 5" (in Thai). Wiparat Food. Retrieved 2013-09-08.

External links

• Image of Kao tom mat.