Look! Shoop! Look Shoop

Another snapshot of a Thai dessert from my trip to Bangkok a couple weeks ago. These little colorful bits are called Look Shoop, which is roughly translated as 'dipped balls'. No, I didn't make that up. I swear.

Presumably the name came from the process of making the desssert. The little balls (look in Thai) made of sweetened yellow mung bean paste are formed into miniature fruits, painted bright colors, and then dipped in agar-agar (dipping = shoop in Thai) to make them shiny like in the photo.

Doesn't this remind you of marzipan in the european dessert repertoir? I wouldn't be surprised if this is yet another example of the Portuguese influence in Thai dessert making, which I spoke of before but got the century off by one or two. (Thanks Austin for correcting me.)

Unlike the other desserts I've rhapsodized about earlier, this Look Shoop stuff I am not so keen on. They are pretty to look at, just like marzipan, but don't exactly taste like much by themselves, you know, sort of like marzipan.

tag(s):food|Thai dessert|Colonialism|Portugal

Comments

[areeya]

yak kin mak mak !!! I misssssssss Thailand and all the yummy food and kanom. Hope I have enough saving to go back by the end of this year.

G'day from downunder

[shuna fish lydon]

I am such a sucker for little things which look like the bigger things. It's when I think food coloring really has a purpose. And this always shocks all my colleagues.

[Kathryn]

Interesting, they look a lot like marzipan fruit candies!

[Ptipois]

I really love look shoob. Especially when they're very precisely painted and delicate. On some markets, they are sometimes coarser.
I think their appeal is not really a matter of taste (they don't taste like much) but of texture. I love the soft, smooth, slightly crunchy feel of the agar-agar coating, followed by the mealy softness of the bean paste. It's a very nice combination. Most of the appeal, however, is visual and poetical.

[Heidi]

This looks EXACTLY like the almond candies we (portuguese) make in Algarve region. Fantastic!!