These rice flour pancakes (known as Nom Chak Chol in Khmer) are a Cambodian dessert staple that’s sold — and eaten — almost exclusively on the street. You’ll see crowds of students of all ages gobbling up these yummy rice flour pancakes on their break, enjoying their flavor-packed, crispy crust.
These rice flour pancakes are delightfully crunchy thanks to the gluten-free rice flour, which stays relatively dry during frying and doesn’t soak up oil. Meanwhile, their sweet caramel flavor comes from palm sugar, which gets mixed in with the pancake batter.
Whether you’re looking for an authentic Khmer dessert, a gluten-free treat, want to try a new batter recipe, or are looking specifically for Nom Chak Chol, our rice flour pancakes won’t disappoint. Best of all, you don’t need any special tools or exotic ingredients to make these treats. We typically deep-fry them in a wok (which is the traditional way of making Nom Chak Chol), but you can get away with deep-frying with a simple pot. Likewise, the only “unusual” ingredients are the rice flour and palm sugar — both ingredients are available in large supermarkets and on Amazon.
TIP: Try our rice flour pancakes with this mango passion fruit jam!
Delicious Rice Flour Pancake Recipe (Nom Chak Chol)
Equipment
- 14-inch Wok (affiliate link)
- Strainer scoop (affiliate link)
Ingredients
- 1 cup
Glutenous rice flour (affiliate link) - 2 cup
Rice flour (affiliate link) - ¼ cup Palm sugar
- 1 tspn White sugar
- 1 tspn Salt
- 1 Duck egg
- 1 ¼ cup Water
Instructions
- Place the regular and glutinous rice flour, and salt, into a bowl then mix with your hands.
- Add water to the bowl while continuing to mix the batter with your hands.
- Crack the duck egg and empty its contents into the mix.
- Add palm and white sugar to the batter.
- Mix the batter with your hands for 2-3 minutes, or until it achieves a uniform consistency.
- In a wok, skillet, or pot, heat enough cooking oil to deep-fry the pancakes; a depth of 1 ½ inches should suffice.
- Use a ladle to pour roughly ¼ cup of the batter into a measuring cup. Then, pour the batter you've just measured into the hot oil and allow to fry for 2-3 minutes.
- Use a pair of chopsticks to check the underside of the pancake; if it's turned a golden-orange, go ahead and flip the pancake.
- Once both sides of the pancake have the same golden-orange color and the edges are slightly brown, remove the pancake from the oil and set aside to cool on a plate. Repeat steps 7-9 until you're out of batter.
- Serve the pancakes warm with a helping of your favorite jam!
Nutrition
Is rice flour good for making batter?
Yes, rice flour is good for making batter — as long as you enjoy a light, crunchy crust. Rice flour is gluten-free, so it does not absorb as much oil during frying, thus keeping the crust drier and crispier than wheat flour does. Rice flour is the staple ingredient for Cambodian pastries precisely because it produces crispy treats that don’t have the chewy middle.
Is rice flour gluten-free?
Yes, rice flour is gluten-free. All varieties of rice flour — even glutenous flour used in our pancake recipe — do not have gluten. That said, some rice flour sold commercially may have gluten-containing additives. So, if you’re on a gluten-free diet, you should always read the nutrition label to make sure there’s really no gluten before you purchase the rice flour.
Is rice flour healthier than white flour?
It depends — rice flour is healthier than white flour if you have a gluten allergy. That’s because white flour contains gluten, whereas rice flour does not and should not cause any irritation. Rice flour also contains a high amount of insoluble fiber, which helps the body remove waste efficiently, thus improving the health of the digestive tract.
That said, rice flour contains less nutrients than wheat flour. For one, rice flour has far less folate, which is essential for the body’s basic cell function. Secondly, rice flour also packs fewer phytonutrients than wheat flour.
Also try: Buttercup squash custard
Does rice flour not rise?
Rice flour does not rise the same way wheat flour does because it lacks gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat products, and it helps dough rise by trapping gas bubbles released during fermentation. Unlike gluten, the proteins in rice flour lack the viscoelasticity needed to trap the fermentation gasses, so rice flour dough needs leavening agents to rise. Fortunately, you needn’t worry about rice flour batter rising if you’re making our pancake recipe — this batter does not require any leavening agents.
Final Thoughts on Rice Flour Pancakes
We hope your rice flour pancakes turn out just as crispy and delicious as ours! If you’ve made this recipe already, please leave a comment below to let us know what you think. And if you know another way of making rice flour pancakes (or would like to recommend a modification to our recipe), please share it with us below!
