Kluay Buat Chi: An Easy, Delicious Thai Banana Dessert

Kluay buat chi (bananas in coconut milk) is a Thai dessert everyone knows: sweet, fragrant and rich. We'd love to recommend it, because many households rarely make it any more. Let's take a look.

Bananas are plentiful and easy to find in Thailand and are used in many Thai desserts, one of which is kluay buat chi. Its main ingredients are bananas and coconut or coconut milk. Thais have long used coconut milk in their cooking, which gave rise to this dessert. Kluay buat chi has been popular for a long time. It is pleasantly sweet and satisfying, and the coconut milk adds richness and fragrance for a perfectly balanced flavour. Kluay nam wa bananas are the usual choice because their flesh is soft and sweet without turning mushy. In the past people ate it after work, and many of the ingredients could be gathered by the roadside without spending a single baht. Today some ingredients have to be bought, but it is as delicious as ever, simple to make and good for you too.

In the past, making kluay buat chi involved many fiddly steps, so today many people prefer to buy it rather than make it. But it isn't so complicated that you can't make this delicious dessert yourself. There are now plenty of aids for making Thai desserts that save a lot of time, so making kluay buat chi can be a piece of cake too.

Many families no longer make it because the process is fiddly and time-consuming and it is easy to buy at the market. Some families still do, however, to preserve this Thai dessert heritage for their children and to sell it for extra household income. Let's look at the steps and ingredients.

Kluay Buat Chi Ingredients (Banana in Coconut Milk)

1. 1 hand of just-ripe kluay nam wa bananas
2. 2 cups thin coconut milk
3. 2 ½ cups coconut cream
4. 1/2 cup palm sugar (nam tan tanode)
5. 1 cup white sugar
6. 3 cups water
7. 2 tsp salt
8. 5–6 mature pandan leaves

How to Make Kluay Buat Chi (Banana in Coconut Milk)

Ripe bananas are generally used so the dessert is sweet, not astringent and not mushy. The key is to soak the bananas in salted water and boil them in their skins before peeling. The banana sap rises out, so the bananas don't turn dark in the finished dessert.

1. Wash and clean the bananas and cut each banana into 4 pieces. Soak them in salted water for 5–10 minutes, then drain. Boil them in their skins in boiling water to remove the sap, which will float up with bubbles. Lift them out and gently peel.
2. If the bananas are very ripe or soft, soak them in limewater for about 30–40 minutes to firm up the flesh.
3. Pour water into a pot or brass wok, heat it, then add the white sugar and palm sugar. If you don't have palm sugar, use coconut sugar (nam tan peep) instead.
4. Add salt to taste. When the sugar and salt start to dissolve, tie the pandan leaves together, add them to the pot and bring to the boil.
5. Once the syrup boils, lower the heat, add the prepared bananas and simmer for about 8–10 minutes.
6. When the bananas start to soften, pour in the thin coconut milk and stir for a moment, followed by the coconut cream. Stir constantly while adding the coconut cream so it doesn't curdle. Taste and add more sugar if you like it sweeter. Cook until the bananas are done, turn off the heat and remove from the stove. Done!