Kha nom Kluay – Thai Banana Cake
The variety of ingredients and styles of preparations of kha nom, a Thai word for a sweet snack food, is every bit as staggering as any other aspect of Thai cuisine; and as far as I’m concerned, they’re all delicious.
One thing that distinguishes many desserts like Thai banana cakes from those of of other culinary traditions is the use of lots of minimally processed fruit. The mango sticky rice is a great example, with the principal ingredient of mango undergoing no more manipulation than peeling and slicing, and the rice is flavored with coconut milk, and the rice is just rice not rice flower or whatever. Lots of almost completely raw fruits and vegetables, lots of incredible flavor.
And, in a lot of cases, minimal processing means minimal effort and minimal time in the kitchen, as is the case with our tidbit for today…….kha nom kluay or kha nom banana. We won’t try to give kha nom a one word English translation as I don’t really think it’s fair or accurate, kha nom is kha nom and somewhere between snack, and sweet, and savory and candy.
So banana kha nom or Thai banana cakes in just under an hour as follow:
- 2 cups of smashed up banana meat
- 1 cup of rice flour
- 1/4 cup of tapioca flour
- 1 1/4 cup of sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup coconut cream
- 2 cups of fresh, grated coconut meat
Here’s what you do to make the Thai banana cake:
Smash all of this except about half a cup of the coconut meat together in a mixing bowl and decide if you will be baking or steaming it (both will produce good results). Either way it should take between 20-30 minutes to reach the desired consistency, with the oven set to 180 degrees if you’re baking it. It can be steamed or just served in the banana leaf cones you usually see on the street here in Thailand, or small ramekins also look very nice once they’re cooked and topped.
To make the banana leaf cones is simple enough, just cut the desired size of leaf, roll and secure it with a toothpick. The banana leaves themselves can often be purchased at “Asian Markets” if you are in Europe or the USA, or wherever you usually buy your banana leaves if you are already in Asia. Once your custard (because that’s more or less what this is) is cooked and nestled into its serving container, you can top it with the remaining shredded coconut. I’m also a big fan of burnt sugar, so I will sometimes top the kha nom with raw sugar and run it under a flame until the sugar caramelizes and forms a hard crust, then I’ll sprinkle on some coconut meat and maybe thinly sliced banana (not every kind of banana will work as a topping, the shorter sweeter ones do best).
If you’re excited about learning more dishes like steamed banana cakes Thai style, drop us a line and we’ll fill you in our Thai food and cooking tour, that will take you from the market to the table with some of your favorite Thai dishes and some of the best foods you’ve never tasted. Until that time in the future, stay fed and stay happy!
