Kanom Krok

Little thai dumplings that are crisp on the outside and gooey on the inside, with a sweet coconut milk jelly filling. I had these in thailand, stuffed with crisp bacon and scallions. These little dumplings need a special pan, called an appa pan, a flat bottomed pan with small circular indentations for batter (like an aebleskiver pan), and with the amount of coconut milk in, are quite easy free to make as it slips off the pan. It needs around 30 minutes of preparatory time and 4-5 minutes to cook. They're great by themselves, or can be served with a little sweet chili sauce to add some heat.

Ingredients

• 6 tbsp rice flour
• 2 tbsp uncooked rice
• 2 tbsp grated coconut
• 1 tbsp cornflour dissolved in 1/2 cup water
• 5 cups coconut milk
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• chopped cilantro to garnish (or finely chopped scallions, ginger or bacon bits)

Method

1. Heat 1 cup of the coconut milk with the cornflour water mixture and 2 tbsp sugar. Heat on a low flame and cook until it thickens to create a sweet thick coconut jelly. Set aside and let it cool.
2. Grind the grated coconut and uncooked rice together into a fine mixture.
3. Add the remaining coconut milk, sugar, rice flour and salt and blend it with the ground rice mixture to create a thin batter.
4. Heat the appa pan on a low flame and pour spoonfuls of the batter into each indentation, making sure that it remains just below the rim of each indentation. I used a non-stick pan and thus didn't need to add any oil to the pan, but in case your pan isn't non-stick, brush some oil over it prior to pouring the batter. 
5. Add a small spoonful of the jelly to the top of the batter and garnish lightly with the chopped cilantro.
6. Cover and let it cook for around 3-4 minutes on a low flame, until the bottom of each dumpling half is a crisp brown.
7. Take out each dumpling half with a spoon and keep aside.
8. While still hot, place one half over another to create a circular dumpling and leave aside. Do this while hot as the jelly will act as a glue and keep the dumpling halves together.
9. Keep stirring the batter prior to pouring as the ground rice will settle to the bottom.
10. Serve hot, but be aware that the jelly will be piping hot. So avoid gulping down or biting directly into the dumpling. Gin Dee Dee