Dainty fried flowers spiked with spices

We almost clap our hands like little children when the dough starts to float in the hot oil like a gracious lotus flower. We are taking the Spice Spoons Thai cooking class in Phuket Anantara Layan Resort and what makes us jump with joy is a brilliant cooking technique we learn to master. Our appetizer course is Krathong thong, golden flower-like cups, deep fried to a paper-thin crispiness and filled with a spicy savory filling. Frying the dainty cuplets is the fun part of our cooking class, and particularly interesting for me, filling another gap in my quest of searching frying molds across the world. 

Our chef Noon gives the instructions precisely as we prepare the batter for the fried flower-like tartelettes, giving the crucial hints like using the pink limewater instead of ordinary water to achieve extra crispiness. I get excited as some of these little secrets once used to exist in traditional Ottoman cooking; such as using ash water in fried dough sweets making the dough alkali and extra crisp and light, or using limewater in sweet fruit preserves making them extra crunchy. Such details are hidden in all world cuisines, and apparently Thai cookery has lots of such exciting secrets to explore. Another revelation is the technique we use in frying our dainty cups of delight. Four tiny brass tartelette molds are attached to a single handle on top; the molds are lowered into hot oil heated in a wok until very hot and then taken out of the oil leaving at least two thirds of oil still inside the molds, and carefully dipped into the batter up to the rim of the molds until an even coating of batter films around them, and then when returned to the sizzling oil the miracle happens. Count to 10, leave the mold standing in the wok for a few more seconds, shake...