Khanom krok: coconut-rice pancakes, ingredients and pans

What khanom krok should turn out like

Khanom krok are small Thai coconut-rice pancakes cooked in a pan with round cavities. Each one has two parts. A lightly sweet rice-and-coconut shell browns against the hot metal. A softer coconut-milk filling sits on top and sets into a creamy center. Savory toppings such as scallions or corn are often added. The aim is a browned base and a top that has stopped flowing, served as a snack or dessert.

The method below follows the recipe published by Hot Thai Kitchen, which is a plain coconut version. Searches for kanom krok bai toey refer to a pandan-flavored variation, since bai toey is the pandan leaf. That recipe does not explain how to add pandan or in what amount, so no pandan quantities are given here. Other Thai desserts labelled pandan are not necessarily the same dish, so check that a pandan recipe is actually written for khanom krok before using it.

What khanom krok is made of

You make two separate batters. The shell batter is blended until smooth. The filling batter only needs whisking. Hot Thai Kitchen's amounts are listed below.

Component	Ingredient	Amount
Shell	Cooked jasmine rice	50 g
Shell	Regular Thai rice flour (not glutinous)	50 g
Shell	Water	240 ml
Shell	Coconut milk	60 ml
Shell	Unsweetened shredded coconut	60 ml
Shell	Palm sugar	30 g
Shell	Salt	1/4 teaspoon
Filling	Coconut milk	240 ml
Filling	Sugar	2 tablespoons
Filling	Rice flour	2 tablespoons
Filling	Salt	1/4 teaspoon

The flour matters. The recipe calls for regular rice flour, not glutinous (sticky) rice flour, so don't swap one for the other. Optional toppings in the same recipe are sliced scallions, cooked corn and cooked taro.

Choosing a pan, including if you don't own a khanom krok pan

The dish needs a pan with small round indentations. Hot Thai Kitchen's author uses takoyaki pans in place of a traditional khanom krok pan. Danish aebleskiver pans also work, but their cavities are larger, so fill them only about halfway. Cavity size changes the ratio of shell to filling, and overfilling a big cavity throws that balance off.

This recipe covers only those two pan alternatives. If you have no indented pan at all, no method for that is documented here, so a flat-pan version would be your own experiment rather than a tested approach.

Cooking sequence

1. Blend the shell ingredients until completely smooth. Whisk the filling ingredients together in a separate bowl.
2. Heat the indented pan and oil every cavity. The author's setting on a temperature-controlled pan is 325°F. On a stovetop pan, judge the heat by how the first batch browns (see the cues below).
3. Stir each batter just before you pour. The solids settle while the batter stands.
4. Pour about 1/2 tablespoon of shell batter into each cavity of a takoyaki-size pan.
5. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of filling on top.
6. If using toppings, add them once the batter has partly set, not at the moment of pouring.
7. Cook for about five minutes. If the bases are browned but the tops are still runny, cover the pan briefly so the tops can catch up.
8. Lift the pancakes out and cool them on a rack.

How to judge doneness and when to adjust

Done: the bases are browned and the tops no longer flow.
Tops lag behind the bases: cover the pan briefly instead of cooking uncovered longer.
Shell and filling out of balance in a large cavity: fill aebleskiver-size cavities only about halfway.
Toppings sink or don't stay put: add them later, after the batter has partly set.

The recipe gives no internal temperature or texture test beyond these visual cues. It also gives no specific safety guidance beyond its handling steps.

Illustrative example: a first-batch log

This is a hypothetical template, not a reported result. On your first batch, write down five things: the pan type and cavity size, the heat setting, how much shell batter and filling went into each cavity, when you added toppings, and how the base and top looked at the five-minute mark. For example: "Aebleskiver pan, cavities half-filled. Scallions added after partial set. Bases brown but tops still runny at five minutes, so covered briefly." On the next batch you change one variable at a time based on what you noted.