Aside from its usefulness in a tres leches cake or a pumpkin pie, sweetened condensed milk isn’t what most of us would consider a standard condiment. But as anyone who has traveled in the developing world — where condensed milk shows up in everything from coffees and teas to snacks and desserts — can attest, its sickly sweetness has a way of hitting the spot when you’re otherwise subsisting on a low-calorie diet of rice or noodles with sauce.

One of the places I recently encountered the saccharine stuff was in Thailand’s most popular street snack, a type of fried flatbread called roti. A diabetic-unfriendly descendant of Indian chapatti, it’s stuffed with sliced bananas, drizzled with chocolate sauce and sweetened condensed milk, and sprinkled with granulated sugar.

Like many of Thailand’s sweet or spicy dishes, its flavor can at first seem too assertive. But after a couple tries, don’t be surprised when you find yourself scanning the street stalls for the familiar sight of steam billowing out from behind stacked Carnation cans. And don’t worry about waking up with a toothache after indulging in the sugary snack: after all, Bangkok’s dental care ranks among the best in the world.

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