Lotus cakes- Khanom Dok Bua
..you either love them or hate them!
This cake is a cake but with a snackie feel to it- as a Thai woman once told me when I asked her about the cakes : “Mm..this is a very old cake! It’s good to eat when watching tv! Break it into little pieces and munch on it!”
(I still wonder what the “old” about it was- presumably she meant it was an old recipe!)
Anyways this cake is a bit of an obsession with me. I saw the first ones in a small shop/ restaurant kind of place very far out in a small place called Stenløse- and I bought a bag of them with me home and was completely blown away- with the presentation and with the taste and the crunchiness and texture! I since was so lucky to get my hands on the iron to make it and have been experimenting to get them just right ever since!
Recipe:
Equal amount of Coconut milk and water
1 kg rice flour with a tiny bit of normal flour in it ( makes them harder and crunchier)
500 or more palmsugar or light brown suger ( gives a better taste)
1 egg
salt
Sesame seeds
Mix it well and leave it for some hours or even better till the next day. The consistensy has to be like when you dip a spoon in it and lift it up, the batter drips off very slowly and mostly stick on the spoon.
Cooking the cakes:
Heat oil up in a large thick buttomed pot or a large vok- heat the iron up too- and this is the essential in the baking of the cakes- the iron has to be warm enough or the cake wont come off but will stick to the iron.
When its warm enough- sprinkle sesame seeds on the batter for every cake ( or they will sink to the bottum) and dip the iron in the batter- quickly and making sure you don’t dip the top of the iron ( or the cake can’t come off) and place it in the hot oil, and just as the cake “stiffens” shake it off and turn it upside down. Take the cake out of the oil before it turns too dark and place it in a glass or bowl lined with tissue to absorb the excess oil and press them down a bit, to make the rounded shape. Leave them to cool- and store them in an airtight comtainer- but not till completely cooled off.
