This is a recipe from Belarus friends of mine, they call it 'ponchiki' and it's so easy to make, yet so delicious.

Ingredients
500 gms Cottage Cheese
5 Medium Eggs
110 gms Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda)
A Squeeze of Lemon Juice
450 gms Flour
Oil for deep frying
A pinch of salt

Preparation
1. Mix the cottage cheese, eggs, sugar and salt.
2. Mix the baking soda and flour into the mix, the mixture should be soft and spoonable, but not sticky. If it's too sticky add a little more flour.
3. Squeeze a little lemon juice into the mixture and stir it in, this will activate the bicarbonate of soda to form bubbles to lighten the mixture.
4. Put a pan of oil on to heat to 180 degrees celsius.
5. Take small teaspoonfuls of the mixture and drop into the hot oil, you can make them round by passing them between two teaspoons.
6. Fry until golden brown.
7. This is enough to make 60 or more balls.

These balls are both sweet and made from sweet potato. Like most Thai desserts, they are slightly sweet, rather than very sweet. When you make the mixture adjust the sugar to your taste,

Ingredients
150 gms Sweet Potato
120 gms Wheat Flour
70 gms Cassava Starch Flour
150 gms Icing Sugar
1 Level Teaspoon Salt
75 ml Evaporated Milk
2 Teaspoon Bicabonate Raising Agent
Oil for Deep Frying

Preparation
1. Clean and peel the sweet potatoes, steam until they are cooked and leave to cool. You can tell they are cooked by sticking a fork in them.
2. Mash finely, add the sugar and mix it in.
3. Mix the cassava flour and bicarbonate and mix into the potatoes. Add the evaporated milk a little at a time and mix it in. You want the mixture to be a thick dough, add more or less evaporated milk to adjust the consistency. Leave for 1 hour.
4. Deep fry small balls of the dough in medium hot oil until cooked.

This filled pancake has slices of medium young coconut meat and toasted black sesame seeds to give it a nutty crunch. The best type of coconut is medium young, not young coconut, not old, but middling, if you can't get hold of this, use young. For this recipe either use a ready made bicarbonate raising agent, or pure bicarbonate of soda and a squeeze of lemon to start it fizzing.

Ingredients
120 gms Wheat Flour
120 gms Rice Flour
1 Teaspoon Bicarbonate Raising Agent
1 Tablespoon Lime or Lemon juice, optional
40 gms Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
220 ml Water
Butter or Oil for Frying

Ingredients for Filling
Toasted Black Sesame Seeds
Coconut Meat
Sugar

Preparation
1. Mix the 2 flours together, add the bicarbonate, lime juice, sugar, water and blend until mixed and smooth. You want a medium thick pancake mix for this.
2. Leave for 30 minutes to give the bicarbonate chance to bubble.
3. Add salt and mix again.
4. Heat a pan and add a little oil or butter.
5. Fry the pancake on one side only, cover it with a lid, the steam will cook the top aswell.
6. Once the top has cooked, add the coconut, sugar and sesame seeds, then fold it over and serve.

This is the Thai version of apple fritters, the batter is very much creamier thanks to the coconut milk used to enrich it. It is better to use a stronger apple that can survive the deep frying, however unlike the European version, don't use cooking apples, they are too sour.

Ingredients
3 Green Apples
100 gms Rice Flour
100 gms Wheat Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
200 mls Water
100 mls Coconut Milk
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Sesame Seeds
3 Tablespoons Sugar
4 Tablespoons Desiccated Coconut

Preparation
1. Peel and core the apples.
2. Slice crosswise into 1cm thick hoops.
3. Combine all the batter ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir until mixed.
4. Heat the oil to 190 degrees C. (The hottest setting on a typical deep fat fryer).
5. Dip the apple slices into the batter and drop into the hot oil.
6. Fry until the batter is cooked and golden.
7. Drain on kitchen paper.

Eat immediately.

This is an ever popular dish with westerners. It is the Thai version of banana fritters, unlike the western version, coconut batter is used and the bananas are smaller and less ripe because they hold their shape and texture better when deep frying. The quantities shown are sufficient for 10-12 small bananas. You will need a deep fat fryer or wok filled with oil to cook this.

Ingredients
10-12 Small Bananas
100 gms Rice Flour
100 gms Wheat Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
200 mls Water
100 mls Coconut Milk
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Sesame Seeds
3 Tablespoons Sugar
4 Tablespoons Desiccated Coconut

Preparation
1. Peel and slice bananas into two halves.
2. Cut bananas into short lengths (7-8 cms approximately, the exact size is not important)
3. Combine all the other ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir until mixed.
4. Heat the oil to 190 degrees C. (The hottest setting on a typical deep fat fryer).
5. Dip the banana pieces into the batter and drop into the hot oil.
6. Fry until the batter is cooked and golden.

Don't try to fry too many pieces at once, they will stick together. Dust with icing sugar for presentation.

Green rice flakes have a scent to them and coupled with the batter, coconut and banana make for a really delightful and substantial dessert. The inner most centre is banana, followed by a layer of green rice & syrup, followed by an outer coating of batter to hold the dessert together. In the photograph I sliced them in half so you can see inside, but it's normal to serve them whole.

Ingredients
5-10 Small Bananas
100 gms Green Rice Flakes
100 gms Sugar
150 ml Rose Water
2 Tablespoons Desiccated (Shredded Dried) Coconut

Ingredients for Outer Batter
2 Tablespoons Rice Flour
1 Egg
100 ml Coconut Milk
100 ml Water
1 Teaspoon Limestone Water (Optional)
1 Teaspoon Salt
Oil for Deep Frying

Preparation
1. Clean the green rice flakes in cold water.
2. Boil the sugar with the rose water to form a thick syrup.
3. Mix the green rice with the syrup in the pan, add the desiccated coconut and stir until it's thick. Take off the heat.
4. Peel the banana, you want to coat the banana in a thick layer of the green rice paste, squeeze the paste tightly around the banana so that it sticks well.
5. Make the outer batter, by mixing the rice flour, coconut milk, egg, water, limestone water and salt. You can use a blender to make it smooth if you wish. The limestone water adds extra crunch to the batter, but can be omitted if you wish.
6. Preheat the oil in the fryer to 170 degrees celsius (medium hot).
7. Dip the coated bananas in the batter, and deep fry for 5 minutes until crispy brown on the outside.

Another use for your kanom krang pan, these little pancakes are made with shredded coconut and dusted with a little icing sugar for sweetness. Yum.

Ingredients
80 gms Flour
400 ml Milk
30 gms Melted Butter
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Egg
Shredded Fresh Coconut

Preparation
1. Mix the flour, egg, milk, salt, sugar and melted butter together and blend with a hand blender.
2. Heat the mini pancake pan on medium heat, and spoon in the mixture.
3. Drop a little shredded fresh coconut into each.
4. Cover and cook until set.
5. Turn the over for a quick browning on the top.
6. Dust with icing sugar, and a little butter, and serve with fruit juice.

The green topping on these pancakes is made from Bi Tua (pandan), the sweet reed with the bubblegum like flavour used in many Thai desserts.

Ingredients
100 gms Rice Flour
230 ml Water
80 gms Cooked Thai Rice
50 gms Shredded Coconut
1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Preparation
1. Mix all the ingredients together until smooth.
2. Warm a mini pancake pan on a medium heat.
3. Rub oil onto the surface with a piece of oiled kitchen paper.
4. Pour a little mixture into each dimple and over with a lid for 1 minute. You want them nearly cooked.

Ingredients for Topping
200 ml Evaporated Milk
100 ml Coconut Milk
1 Tablespoon Wheat Flour
1/2 Salt
5 Tablespoons Sugar
2-3 Tablespoons Bi tua Water

Preparation
1. Mix all the ingredients together in a saucepan and cook through very slowly until it thickens.
2. Spoon the mixture onto the pancakes, then finish cooking the pancakes with the mixture on top.

A traditional Thai kitchen does not have an oven, we fry or grill food rather than bake. This means we also have other types of cakes suitable for cooking on a stove. These cakes are the size of dice, and dry fried on a hot plate rather than baked. You turn them over and brown them on each side, and because they're small, they cook through easily. For this recipe I'm suggesting sweetened taro and water chestnuts as a filling, but marzipan also works well.

Ingredients
100 gms Wheat flour ( Cake Flour )
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda (or Bicarbonate of Soda and a squeeze of lemon)
100 gms Brown Sugar
1 Egg 50 gms Butter
40 ml Water

Ingredients for Filling
40 gms Taro ( steamed until cooked )
20 gms Water Chestnuts (steamed till cooked)
20 gms Sugar
20 gms Butter

Preparation
1. Mix the sugar and egg together, set aside.
2. Mix flour and baking soda then add pieces of the butter in and break up the butter with your fingers to form a fine crumb.
3. Add the egg sugar mixture, and mix in. You need to get this to quite a firm pastry dough, so add a little water and mix to get it to a stiff dough. Don't overwork the dough you want a cake mixture not a bread mixture!
4. Place in a bowl, cover with a wet cloth and leave for 30 minutes to let the bubbles form.
5. Blend the filling ingredients together in a food blender.
6. Roll the cake dough out. Cut into discs about 5cm diameter. Place a little of the filling in the middle of each square. Bring over the edges and pinch them together to seal them.
7. Push the mini cake against a flat surface on each of it's 6 sides to make the dice shape.
8. Place in a dry non stick frying pan and cook on medium heat until brown. Once each side is browned, turn the dice over to brown another side until they are cooked all over.