Cookbook:Khanom Tian (Thai Coconut Rice Dumplings)

Khanom Tian (Thai Coconut Rice Dumplings)
Category	Dumpling recipes
Difficulty

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Khanom Tian (ขนมเทียน) is a pyramid-shaped Chinese-Thai dessert, often served during festivals such as Sat Chin (Chinese Ghost Festival) and Chinese New Year. This dessert consists of a dough and a salty or sweet filling.

Ingredients

Dough

• 100 g palm sugar
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 200 g glutinous rice flour

Sweet filling

• 100 g palm sugar
• 2 cups overripe coconut
• 1 cup water
• 6 large banana leaves

Procedure

Dough

1. Melt the palm sugar in a pan with coconut milk and cool to room temperature.
2. Mix the glutinous rice flour with the coconut milk until a smooth and slightly sticky dough is formed.
3. Cover the dough and let sit for 3 hours or overnight.

Filling

1. Combine the palm sugar and water in a pan, and simmer until dry enough.
2. Add coconut, and simmer until it is sticky.
3. Let it sit for 10–15 minutes.

Assembly

1. Oil your hand. Roll a 3-cm chunk of dough into a ball, and flatten it into a circle.
2. Place a ball of filling into the dough. Gently fold the dough around the filling, and pinch the seams shut.
3. Place the dough balls into a greased dish to prevent sticking.
4. Wash the banana leaves. Use scissors to cut the leaves into two rounded sizes—one should be 16–18 cm in diameter and the others 12–14 cm in diameter.
5. Place a large leaf section and a small leaf section together with the dull sides facing each other. This doubles up the leaves and makes them stronger. Do this for all the leaves.
6. Fold one end of the banana leaf into a cone, and drop in the stuffed dough ball.
7. Fold over the shorter side of the cone.
8. Fold over both sides of the banana leaf perpendicularly to the cone seam.
9. Tuck the long tail into the little slot.
10. Fold over the long tail that is left, and put it into the slot. Crease the folds of the pyramid a bit to strengthen it.

Cooking

1. Place all of the dumplings in a single layer into a steamer. Steam for 20–30 minutes.
2. Let the dumplings cool slightly before eating.

Notes, tips, and variations

• The video here provides a demonstration on how to shape the banana leaves during assembly.