Cho muang facts for kids
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| Alternative names | Chor muang |
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| Type | Snack |
| Place of origin | Thailand |
| Region or state | Central Thailand |
| Created by | Thai Royal Kitchen |
| Serving temperature | Warm |
| Main ingredients | Garlic, pepper, coriander roots, vegetables, chicken, pork |
Cho Muang or Chor Muang (Thai: ช่อม่วง) is a special Thai snack. People sometimes call it the "Thai flower dumpling". It's a very old and traditional dish from Thailand.
We know about Cho Muang from the time of King Rama II. It's even mentioned in an old poem called Kap He Chom Khrueang Khao Wan. This snack was once a royal dish, meaning it was made for kings and queens!
Cho Muang is famous for looking like a beautiful carved flower. It gets its purple-blue color from the anchan (Butterfly Pea) flower. The dumpling is steamed and can have a salty or sweet filling inside. It's often served with fresh lettuce, coriander, and chili. The original Cho Muang had a sweet filling, but later, people started making savory ones too. The name Cho Muang means 'violet bouquet' in Thai. This is because many of these flower-shaped snacks are arranged together on a plate.
To make the outside of Cho Muang, cooks mix rice flour, arrowroot flour, and tapioca flour. They stir these together in a large pan. The pretty purple color comes from mixing butterfly pea flower extract with a few drops of lime juice. For the filling, seasoned meat like shrimp, fish, pork, or chicken is cooked with coriander root, garlic, and pepper until it's dry. Then, the filling is wrapped in the colored dough. Using special tweezers, the dough is carefully shaped into flower petals. After shaping, the dumplings are steamed. Once steamed, they are sprayed with fresh coconut milk. This honors the original sweet version of the snack.
It takes a lot of skill and time to make the detailed flower shape of Cho Muang. Because of this, and because it doesn't stay fresh for long, Cho Muang is hard to find in regular markets in Thailand. You usually only find it in special dessert shops.
History of Cho Muang
The story of Cho Muang goes back a long way. This snack was first written about during the rule of King Rama II. Its unique look is often compared to a rose. This rose shape is a key part of what makes Cho Muang special. The middle of this snack usually has spices like garlic, pepper, and coriander roots. These spices are very common in many Thai foods and snacks.
Cho muang has the sweet scent of a flower, and is purple like the Poudean flower (Hibiscus mutabilis). So, it looks like a woman that wears a purple shawl.
The poem Kap He Chom Khrueang Kho Wan mentions Cho Muang. This snack was created by the Thai Royal Kitchen, also known as Chao Wang's kitchen. The poem describes both Thai desserts and Thai food. One part of the poem says that Cho Muang smells and tastes sweet like a flower. It also says the color of Cho Muang is purple, like the Poudean flower. The poem even compares Cho Muang to a beautiful woman wearing a purple shawl. This shows how much knowledge and wisdom Thai people had in the past.
What Makes Cho Muang Special?
Today, Cho Muang is a rare Thai snack. It can be quite expensive because it needs a lot of skill and effort to make. Cho Muang is most often shaped like a rose, but you might find it in other shapes too. Its purple color comes from a mix of blue pea flower extract and lemon juice.
