Pandan Leaf in Thai Cooking

Pandan is a tropical plant with long, glossy, blade-like leaves. Crushed or warmed, they release a sweet, nutty, grassy scent that Thai cooks use the way European cooks use vanilla, but in savoury food too.

Pronunciation	bai dtoei
Flavour	Sweet, grassy, nutty, often compared to vanilla and fresh rice
Used in	Rice, desserts, sticky rice, drinks, gai hor bai toey
Substitute	A drop of vanilla in desserts; pandan extract for colour

How it is used

In rice: one or two leaves tied in a knot and cooked with jasmine rice or khao man gai rice, perfuming the grains.
In sticky rice and coconut desserts: warmed in coconut milk for mango sticky rice and in syrups and custards.
For colour: blended with water and squeezed to make pandan juice, which gives many Thai desserts their green colour, such as khanom chan (layered cake) and sangkaya (custard).
For wrapping: chicken marinated in garlic, coriander root and pepper is wrapped in pandan leaves and fried, for gai hor bai toey.
In drinks: boiled with water and sugar for nam bai toey, a cooling pandan drink.

Making pandan juice

Cut 10 leaves into short pieces and blend them with 100 ml water. Squeeze the pulp through a cloth or fine sieve. The bright green juice keeps for a day in the fridge, or freeze it in ice-cube trays.

Buying and storing

Fresh and frozen pandan leaves are sold in Asian grocers. Fresh leaves keep for a week in the fridge wrapped in paper. Frozen leaves keep their scent very well and can be used straight from the freezer. Bottled pandan extract gives colour but tastes artificial; use it sparingly.