Thai · Thailand
Kluay Buad Chee (Banana in Coconut Milk)
Ripe bananas gently simmered in sweetened, lightly salted coconut milk — one of the simplest and most deeply satisfying of all Thai desserts. Kluay buad chee (literally 'banana ordained as a nun' — the white coconut milk suggesting the white robes of a Buddhist nun) requires two things done correctly: the selection of the correct banana and the salting of the coconut milk. Everything else is simplicity.
‹Swipe for the next dish›
One shipped · two in Vancouver · one not yet within reach.
How the 4 are reached
- Shipped to you
- 1 · palm sugar
- In Vancouver
- 2 · thin coconut milk, pandan leaf
- Not yet within reach
- 1 · kluay nam wa bananas
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
4–6
kluay nam wa bananas
firm, ripe but not over-ripe; substitute firm Cavendish or firm ripe plantain
Not yet within reach of Fraser Valley · each reach is counted
400 ml
thin coconut milk
second pressing, or the thinner portion of canned coconut milk
Origin · Sri Lankan coconut (Coconut Research Institute of Sri Lanka), Sri LankaIn Vancouver · Jeya Brothers →
60–80 g
palm sugar
adjust to the sweetness of the banana
1 pinch
salt
Your own market
1 piece
pandan leaf
tied in a knot; optional, infused during heating and removed before service
Within reach counts in town, delivered, shipped and the nearest city. A staple counts once it has a local seller. Charted from each shop's own pages; not yet vouched by a cook who shops here.
The larder of the Fraser Valley →Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Combine the thin coconut milk, palm sugar, and salt in a saucepan and warm over low heat, stirring, until the sugar is fully dissolved. Keep the heat gentle and do not allow the liquid to boil, so the coconut milk stays opaque and full-bodied rather than splitting into a thin, greasy liquid. Taste: the coconut milk should be distinctly sweet with a clean salt edge that amplifies rather than announces itself.
From the canon — Palm sugar — made from the sap of the palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer) or coconut palm — is the primary sweetener of the Thai kitchen and one of the most … Palm Sugar (Nam Tan Pip): Selection and Use →
2
If using pandan leaf, add the knotted piece to the warm coconut milk now, so the heat coaxes its grassy, vanilla-like fragrance into the liquid before the banana goes in. Allow it to infuse as the liquid heats, then remove it before adding the banana and before service.
From the canon — Pandan leaf — bai toey — is the vanilla of Southeast Asian cooking: its aromatic compound (2-acetyl-1-pyrroline — the same compound that gives jasmine rice a… Pandan Leaf (Bai Toey): Aromatic Use and Properties →
3
Peel the bananas, halve each lengthwise, then cut into pieces of 5–6 cm.
4
This is where the dish lives or dies. Bring the coconut milk to approximately 70–75°C — a bare, still surface with no movement, well below a simmer — and add the banana pieces, so they poach gently, absorbing the sweetened coconut milk while holding their shape rather than dissolving into it. Hold at this temperature for 5–8 minutes; at 90°C or above, the banana disintegrates within five minutes, yielding a thin, banana-flavoured liquid in place of distinct pieces. Monitor by touch on the pan's exterior and sight on the surface: no bubbles should break.
5
Serve warm, ladled into bowls with the coconut milk. The banana pieces should be tender but intact, neither raw nor collapsed, and the coconut milk should remain opaque and body-full.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Kluay nam wa bananas sourced from a Thai or South-East Asian specialist; freshly pressed thin coconut milk from a mature coconut; unrefined palm sugar in block or paste form with its full caramel depth.
02
Estate — Kluay nam wa from an Asian grocery with reliable turnover; good-quality canned thin coconut milk (or the thinner portion of full-fat canned); block palm sugar from a Thai or Malaysian brand.
03
Market — Firm, ripe Cavendish banana; standard canned coconut milk used at its thinner, lower portion; granulated palm sugar or light soft brown sugar as a last resort.
04
House — Any firm, not over-ripe banana available; canned coconut milk diluted slightly with water to approximate a second pressing; white sugar with a drop of molasses stirred in.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. The coconut milk surface remains completely still — no bubbles, no shimmer of movement — confirming the temperature has not exceeded the poaching threshold.
◇Touch. A banana piece, pressed gently with a spoon, yields with slight resistance and holds its shape; it does not collapse or smear.
◇Sight. The coconut milk remains opaque and full-bodied in the bowl; it has not thinned or separated from contact with the banana.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish is decided by temperature: a poach held at 70–75°C preserves the banana's form and texture, while any approach to a simmer dissolves it into the coconut milk entirely.
Pillar V
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Lustau Los Arcos Dry Amontillado
Bodegas Lustau · Jerez DO
Liberty Wine Merchants · Vancouver →See all 3 →Fortified wine
From British Columbia
Sparkling wine
Without alcohol
Tea
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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The working kitchen
Sourced through Provenance