Miang Kham | Thai Leaf-Wrapped One-Bite Appetizer

Add all the shredded coconut (65 g) to a dry pan and toast over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until golden brown. It darkens very quickly in the final 1 minute, so stay by the pan. Set aside 25 g for the sauce and put the rest in the filling bowl.

Pound the toasted coconut reserved for the sauce, 15 g dried shrimp, ginger, and shallot in a mortar until you have a coarse paste. A mortar is preferable to a food processor: the processor cuts the fibers, while pounding crushes the cells and releases their aroma. Set aside.

Bring the palm sugar, water, and fish sauce to a boil in a small saucepan over low heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Add the pounded paste and cook, stirring occasionally. The right consistency is thick, glossy, and jam-like; when lifted with a spoon, it should fall in heavy drops rather than in a thread. Remove from the heat and let cool; it will thicken a little more as it cools.

Dice the lemon, peel and all, into 5 mm cubes and remove the seeds—the peel’s bitterness is characteristic, so do not peel it. Cut the ginger and shallot into similarly sized cubes, and slice the bird’s eye chili into thin rings. Coarsely crush the peanuts and leave the dried shrimp whole.

Put each filling in a separate small bowl and arrange them around the leaves, with the sauce in the center. Everyone assembles their own bite: add a piece of each ingredient to a leaf, drizzle with half of a 4 ml measure of sauce, fold, and eat in one bite. Do not assemble ahead; the leaves will wilt and the sauce will run.