Product Code Database
Khao tom (, ) and khao tom mat (, ) are a popular Laotian cuisine and Thai cuisine dessert made of sticky rice, ripe banana, coconut milk, all wrapped and steamed-cooked in banana leaves. A similar dessert is enjoyed throughout countries where it is known as num ansom in Khmer, lepet in Indonesian, suman in Filipino cuisine, and bánh tét and bánh chưng in Vietnamese.
In Thailand, the Sai Krachat tradition (ประเพณีใส่กระจาด), also known as Suea Krachat or Soe Krachat in Phuan language is a merit-making Buddhist tradition of the Thai Phuan people of Ban Mi District, Lopburi Province. It takes place on the eve of the Great Birth Sermon celebration. One day prior to the Sai Krachat Day, people wrap khao tom and grind rice for khao pun rice noodles. The next day is the Sai Krachat Day when people bring things such as bananas, sugar cane, oranges, candles, and or other items to put into bamboo baskets at the houses of the people they know, while the hosts bring prepared food to welcome their guests. When the visitors wish to go home, the hosts give khao tom mat as a souvenir, called Khuen Krachat. Steamed glutinous rice cakes with banana recipe In Thailand, khao tom mat is the symbol of couples because for boiling usually the leaf wraps are bundled to sets of two. Thai people believe that if a pair of people offer khao tom mat to monks on Khao Phansa Day, which is at the beginning of the 3 months of Vassa during the rainy season and the time when monks retreat to a monastery and concentrate on Buddhist teachings, married life will be smooth and love will be stable. Khao tom mat is also a traditional Thai dessert for Ok Phansa Day (the end of Buddhist lent in late October.), but it is then called khao tom luk yon (). This variant is wrapped up in a young Licuala spinosa leaf () with long-tails to hold before tossing them to a Buddha image, after which can carry them away.
In 2014, the Department of Cultural Promotion under the Ministry of Culture registered khao tom mat as an intangible cultural heritage, in the Knowledge and Practices Concerning Nature and the Universe category, to prevent them from being lost along with other cultural heritage.
|
|
