Khanom Buang
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Khanom Buang is a sweet snack found all over Thailand, made by street vendors who have mastered the art. It's history can be traced back 600 years to the Ayuttya Period. We've never found Khanom Buang in an American Thai restaurant. It does take practice, and we've presented a street vendor video below for indispensable guidance. As you watch the video, take note of hand movements. Our recipe is genuine, and tastes fantastic, "just like Thailand" but our recipe includes coconut topping only. As in the video, two others toppings are common: foy tong (sweetened egg yolk dessert) and salty shrimp mixture. We'll add a recipe for foy tong and salty shrimp later.
We made Khanom Buang on a flat electric pancake griddle which worked perfectly. A friend who makes this in Thailand insists on adding Ovaltine to the batter, and we love the malty chocolate flavor, but you can leave this out (or add less) if you prefer a non-chocolate version.
Required Tool: Kra-ja (flat spreader). We recommend using two while preparing this recipe. One for the batter and one for the cream.
Ingredients
For 4 Person(s)
Ingredients for Pancake batter
- 2/3 Cup Mungbean Flour
- 1 1/3 Cups Rice Flour
- 1 Large Egg
- 1/2 Cup Palm Sugar
- 3/4 Cup Lime Water (see below)
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 4 Tablespoon Thai Ovaltine (optional)
Ingredients for White Cream
- 3 Egg White
- 1/2 Cup Sugar
- 5 Drops Lemon Juice
Ingredients for Coconut Topping
- 1 Cup Grated Fresh Coconut
- 3/4 Cup Sugar
- 3 Tablespoons Water
Method for Khanom Buang
Method For Pancake batter
Prepare lime water by mixing one tablespoon lime paste to 2.5 cups water. Stir well and leave until the lime crystals sink to the bottom. Use 3/4 cup water from the top of your container for the recipe, and discard the rest.
With a cleaver or sharp knife, carefully shave 1/2 cup palm sugar from a cake of palm sugar, avoiding large chunks.
Sift the two flours into a mixing bowl. Add the egg, lime water, palm sugar, salt and Ovaltine. Mix well. Set aside for 10 - 15 minutes.
Method For White Cream
Place egg whites and lemon juice in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on high speed until the eggs form medium-firm peaks, about 1 minute. With the mixer on medium speed, add sugar by sprinkling it over the beaten egg whites. Beat on high speed for a few minutes, until thick and shiny.
Method For Coconut Topping (or use dried coconut)
Heat all ingredients in a small sauce pan on low heat. Keep stir until thick. Remove from heat.
Preparing the Khanom Buang
Preheat the griddle, use high heat (not the highest setting, but almost). With your kra-ja, circle it around in the batter. To make it easy, catch some batter on the top of the round spreader. Then in a smooth motion move over the griddle, let the batter drop onto the griddle, and spread around in a nice circle using your wrist. Prepare a few of these pancakes, then put your kra-ja in a bowl of water. Reach for the other kra-ja which should be in the white cream. Spread some white cream on each pancake. Top with coconut. With a spatula lift the pancake half-way and push it down (as shown in the video). Now you're probably the first person in your community to ever make Khanom Buang, congratulations!
Notes: The lime water makes it crispy, don't prepare this without it. Your kra-ja should be clean and dry each time you start using it. Don't add too much white cream. The tool you see the street vendor using to lift and crease the khanom buang is called "Lek Po See" which is a simple scraper found in a hardware store, but we used a wooden spatula because our griddle has a nonstick surface.
