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Dessert

Tub Tim Krob

A Thai dessert of red water chestnut cubes simmered in coconut milk.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and water chestnut share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 84 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Tub Tim Krob

Timeseveral minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and cut the water chestnuts into small cubes.

  2. Soak the water chestnut cubes in red food coloring until their color changes to red.

Coat and cook

  1. Mix the colored water chestnut cubes with tapioca flour until the skin of the cubes is covered with the flour.

  2. Boil them in hot water for several minutes or until the water chestnut cubes float to the top of the water.

Serve

  1. Mix the water chestnut cubes with coconut milk and serve with ice cubes in a bowl.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

738Calories
16 gProtein
28 gFat
105 gCarbs

Counts 2 of 4 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 2 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Coconut1/2 cup shredded (40g)283
Waternot in our table0
Water Chestnutnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Flour + water chestnuttop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together84 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Coconut + water chestnuttop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Coconut + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,648 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Coconut + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,315 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Water chestnuts
Provide the crisp, chewy bite that defines the dessert.
Tapioca flour
Forms a starchy coating on the cubes that helps them hold together and turn chewy when cooked.
Coconut milk
Adds richness and creaminess to the chilled liquid around the cubes.
Red food coloring
Gives the water chestnut cubes their bright red color.

The step that matters

Boiling the coated cubes. The cubes must be boiled until they float, which signals the starch coating has cooked through. Undercooked tapioca stays opaque and hard in the center, while overcooking can make the coating gummy and loose.

Swap the water chestnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coconut, milk, flour):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Bananafits about as well
  4. Water chestnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coconut, milk, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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