Ingredients
The dough
- 400 gglutinous rice flour
- 100 grice flour
- 150 gpalm sugar
- chopped, or brown sugar
- about 200 ml warm water
- a pinch of salt
To coat
- 100 gsesame seeds
- white or a mix
To fry
- oil, for deep frying
Sometimes glazed with
- more palm sugar
- melted to a syrup
Directions
- Brown sugar is the nearest substitute. Dissolve the palm sugar in warm water. Chop it before trying to dissolve it. Warm water dissolves it far faster. Stir it until it is fully dissolved.
- Put both flours in a large bowl. Add the pinch of salt to them. Stir them together thoroughly. The two flours must be evenly combined. Whisk them together before adding liquid. Pour the sugar water into the flours. Bring it together into a dough. It should be a soft pliable dough. Squeeze a piece of it in your palm. It should hold together smoothly.
- Add water if it cracks when rolled. Add flour if it sticks to your hands. Add either a little at a time. Knead it for about five minutes. Five minutes is plenty for that. Cover the dough and let it rest. Give it about twenty full minutes. Divide the dough into even pieces. Roll each one into a smooth ball. Turn the ring around your finger steadily. Make the hole larger than seems right.
- Make it generously wide from the start. It also takes a little longer. Spread the sesame seeds on a plate. Press each ring into the seeds. Turn it and press the other side. The seeds must be pressed into the dough. Press all of the seeds in firmly. The dough should be slightly tacky.
- Brush it with a little water if it is dry. Heating the oil takes attention. Pour the oil into a deep heavy pot. Fill it no more than half full. Heat it to about one hundred and sixty degrees. This needs a lower heat than most frying. Keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up. Never put water on an oil fire at all.
- Keep children well away from the pot. Frying them takes care and batches. Turn them with a slotted spoon. Give them another three or four minutes. Break the first one open to check. The inside should be cooked and chewy. Fry them for longer if it still is. Lift them out onto a wire rack. That softens the crust within minutes.
- Melt more palm sugar into a syrup. Brush it over all the warm rings. Some sellers do it and some do not. Pile them into a bag or a case. Serve strong coffee alongside. They keep a day in a sealed bag.
Technique
- The dough is glutinous rice flour with some ordinary rice flour and no wheat at all, which gives a dense chewy result quite unlike a wheat doughnut — crisp and seeded outside, chewy inside, and that contrast is the point. Despite its name glutinous rice flour contains no gluten; the word refers to the glue-like texture.
- Fry at a lower heat than most doughnuts, around one hundred and sixty degrees, and expect seven or eight minutes: the dense dough needs time inside and the sesame burns readily, so a moderate heat cooks both properly. Golden seeds are toasted, dark ones have burnt and taste bitter.
- Make the hole considerably wider than seems right, since the dough swells as it fries and a small hole disappears entirely. Press the sesame seeds in firmly rather than laying them on, since loose seeds fall off in the oil and burn on the pot bottom.
Substitutions
- Brown sugar stands in for palm sugar, which is softer, less sweet and has a caramel note; the result is similar but plainer.
- Some cooks roll a rope and join the ends rather than pushing a hole through a ball, which gives a neater ring; both are done.
Variations
- Cambodia is known for its palm sugar, tapped from the sugar palm which is a national symbol, and it appears in a great many sweets.
- Sellers carry the doughnuts in a glass-fronted case on a bicycle or moped, riding slowly through the streets, especially in the morning.
- Brush the warm rings with melted palm sugar syrup for a sticky glaze; some sellers do and some do not.
History
Hawked from glass cases carried on bicycles through Cambodian towns, especially in the morning.
Frequently asked questions
What is Nom Kong?
Nom Kong is a street food from Cambodia: ring doughnut of rice flour and palm sugar, fried and rolled in sesame. Hawked from glass cases carried on bicycles through Cambodian towns, especially in the morning.
How long does Nom Kong take to make?
Nom Kong takes 30 minutes plus resting of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 20 rings. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Nom Kong?
Yes, within limits. Brown sugar stands in for palm sugar, which is softer, less sweet and has a caramel note; the result is similar but plainer. Some cooks roll a rope and join the ends rather than pushing a hole through a ball, which gives a neater ring; both are done.
What is the most important thing to get right in Nom Kong?
Put both flours in a large bowl. Add the pinch of salt to them. Stir them together thoroughly. The two flours must be evenly combined. Whisk them together before adding liquid. Pour the sugar water into the flours. Bring it together into a dough. It should be a soft pliable dough. Squeeze a piece of it in your palm. It should hold together smoothly.
