Miang Kham (Wild Betel Leaf Wraps)

Posted by: Kwokmun on: June 1, 2010

• In: Appetiser | Condiments | Food | Recipes | Snacks | Thai | Vegetarian-Friendly
• 3 Comments

When I first had miang kham at ChuChai in Montreal, I was sold after the first bite. It’s the perfect mixture of all the lovely flavors: sour and bitter from the limes, peppery from the leaves, spicy from the ginger and red chilis, savory from the dried shrimps, and sweet from the palm sugar and shallots. The result was simply phenomenal! I didn’t know what was in it at first but after much research, I believe I have found a excellent recipe from Real Thai Recipes. I made it at my house warming party and everyone loves it. Here’s how I did it:

Ingredients:

Condiments

• shallots, diced small
• ginger, as young as possible, diced small
• red chilli, diced small
• lime, cut into 8 wedges (rind intact) then sliced very thinly crosswise
• fresh/frozen coconut, scraped and toasted
• crushed peanuts
• dried shrimps, soaked for 5 minutes (optional)
• wild betel leaves (Piper sarmentosum, also known as lá lốt in Vietnamese and cha plu in Thai)
  

Sauce

• 200g Thai palm sugar
• 2 tbsp shallots, diced
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2-3 tbsp toasted coconut

Method:

1. Simmer all the ingredients for the sauce except the coconut until the consistency is somewhat syrupy. Remove from heat and add the coconut. Stir and let cool.
2. To assemble, take a wild betel leaf and put a little bit of everything. Drizzle with the sauce.
3. Wrap the filling lengthwise, starting from the sides first and then complete the wrap from the remaining sides.
4. Eat it in ONE BITE.

(recipe adapted from “Leaf Wrapped Snack – mieng kham” by Real Thai Recipes)

Final Notes:

1. Remember that syrup becomes thicker when cooled. It might look watery when you turned off the heat but it will be more syrupy after an hour or so. The sauce should drizzle like pure maple syrup.
2. Only a tiny bit of each ingredient is needed on each leaf (about 1/8 teaspoon). Final ingredient quantities depend on the number of servings.

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Tags: bitter, citrus, spicy, sweet, tart, vegetables