For cookbook author and writer Leela Punyaratabandhu, the scent of mangos still has the power to transport her back to springtime at her great-grandparents’ home in Bangkok. There, as the days grew warmer and longer, she and her family plucked the fruits from their garden’s trees, collected them in baskets, and organized them on their kitchen shelves. As the fruits grew softer and sweeter, their musky, floral perfume permeated the entire house. “It’s one of the olfactory memories from my childhood that I associate with warmth, happiness, and abundance,” Punyaratabandhu wrote in an email.
Once a fruit had reached peak saccharine softness, it was time to make Thailand’s most famous dessert: khao niaow ma muang. Consisting of thick, golden slices of mango; subtly sweet, coconut-flavored sticky rice; a salty coconut sauce; and crunchy toasted mung beans, (2016).
