Somewhat controversially claimed as an Australian dish, this light meringue dessert is a part of many Australian's Christmas treats. This year we decided to make one in Thailand.
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#### MAKING THE PAV!
First, I have to tell you that I cheated a little. As my mother was visiting me in Bangkok for Christmas, I had her bring the Pavlova base with her. This saved me the grief and several hours of making it myself. She bought a simple Pavlova base from the supermarket in Brisbane and carried it to Thailand with her...Bless :)
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#### THE PAVLOVA BASE
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This simple Summer treat utilizes fresh fruit and cream and is often served with custard or ice-cream. So let's see what we did with it, with the ingredients we had available.
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https://i.imgsafe.org/0cda47164c.jpg
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You can decorate your Pavlova however you like, so this is a good chance to get creative. Firstly we added organic fresh strawberries from Chiang Mai, and placed them around the edge. We then scattered some fresh Blueberries in the middle. Blueberries don't grow very well in Thailand, so I bought these imported South-Korean ones from the supermarket. To finish off our berries on top, some local Mulberries were added. These were farm-grown just to the north of Bangkok.
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#### CHIANG MAI STRAWBERRIES
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#### BLUEBERRIES
https://i.imgsafe.org/0cbb316050.jpg
#### MULBERRIES
https://i.imgsafe.org/0cbb477c8a.jpg
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I had returned from travelling in Vietnam a day earlier, and brought some local fruit back with me. These were purchased from Vendors in the Dong Ba Market in Hue. I'll be honest, I was trying to find the devine Passionfruit we had been feasting on all trip but got talked into buying these fruits from a persuasive vendor. The first was Vietnamese Mandarin which is sweet and juicy, and the 2nd one is the purple fruit the size of a tennis ball. I don't know what it is called but it has a texture something similar to a pear. If you can name this fruit, please tell me in the comments. These lovely fruits were used to decorate around the outside of the Pavlova.
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From here, it is a simple matter of cutting the Pavlova and dripping some cream over the top. Usually some extra double-cream would be layered on the top, but we were unable to find this in Thailand so we substituted with whipping cream.
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#### DRIZZLE COME CREAM
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#### READY
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And there you have it, a simple and light dessert which is great for a hot Australian summer. The sweet light meringue is complimented by the sharp taste and texture of the fresh fruit, and the smoothness of the cream . My Thai wife who usually eats very spicy things absolutely loves Pavlova as it is a unique and different taste for her.
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#### READY FOR MY FAMILY
https://i.imgsafe.org/0cbba11411.jpg
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# MERRY CHRISTMAS

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