Dish

Num Kom

នំគម

Pyramid-shaped steamed Cambodian rice cake filled with grated coconut, palm sugar and sesame.

Num kom (នំគម, num kom) is a pyramid-shaped steamed Cambodian rice cake filled with grated coconut, palm sugar and sesame.[1] Together with num ansom, it is one of the most important traditional cakes in Cambodia.[1]

Cultural context

In Khmer, num means cake in general.[2] Num kom is traditionally made for major festivals, including Pchum Ben (Ancestors' Day), Khmer New Year and weddings.[1] It is also made for engagement parties and housewarmings, as well as for Khmer New Year in April and Pchum Ben in October.[3] During Pchum Ben, when every family honors its ancestors, the women of the household, young and old, sit together to make num kom.[2] Women gather to make the cakes for family and friends on other special occasions as well.[4] Pchum Ben lasts 15 days, and people pray and give offerings to the monks in temples to honor the dead.[4] Num kom is commonly offered at temples during Khmer New Year and Pchum Ben.[5] It is a traditional Pchum Ben snack.[6]

In ceremonies, num kom is used together with num ansom (នំអន្សម), both the pork-filled and the banana-filled kinds.[7] It is also an everyday food.[7] In Phnom Penh, num kom and num ansorm are easy to find at the northern entrance of O'Russey Market (2026).[5] In Cambodian food culture, sweets are usually eaten as snacks during the day rather than as the last course of a meal.[4]

The Phnom Penh vendor Houn Chanthol says she makes the best num kom in the city, and the city's mayor once named her the winner of a num kom competition.[6] She holds that choosing the best rice is critical.[6]

Ingredients and preparation

The dough is glutinous rice flour. The filling is grated coconut, palm sugar and toasted sesame seeds, and the cake is wrapped in banana leaves in a pyramid shape.[1] The cake is chewy and the filling is sweet.[1] Palm sugar is the original sweetener.[2]

The traditional dough starts with glutinous rice, soaked and ground into a paste. The paste is strained through a netted cloth to remove the water, and hot water is added so the dough wraps easily around the filling.[2] Because this takes a long time, ready-made glutinous rice flour can be used instead.[4]

One recipe uses 1½ cups of glutinous rice flour, five cups of freshly grated coconut (about one large coconut), four teaspoons of black sesame seeds, half a cup of jaggery syrup or palm sugar, and a pinch of salt, with banana leaves and vegetable oil for greasing.[4] The sesame is roasted over medium-low heat. The heat is turned off, and the coconut and jaggery syrup are mixed in to make the filling.[4] The flour and salt are mixed with lukewarm water into a dough. The dough is formed into balls about 5 centimeters (2 inches) across.[4] Each ball is flattened, filled and closed back into a ball.[2] The banana leaves are cut into pieces of about 17 by 21 centimeters (7 by 8 inches), one for each cake. They are washed, wiped clean and greased before the filled dough goes inside.[4] In another recipe, each leaf is folded lengthwise and given a slight cross cut to form a pocket for the cake, and the leaves are folded in a set pattern.[2]

A layer of banana leaf goes under the cakes in the steamer, which keeps them from sticking and adds flavor, and two more layers go on top before the lid is closed.[4] The cakes steam over boiling water for about 15 minutes.[4] Num kom cooks faster than rice cakes with other fillings.[2] The filling is not fried further or cooked until thick and sticky.[2]

A French-language recipe for four people uses 250 grams (about 9 ounces) of glutinous rice flour, 400 grams (about 14 ounces) of finely grated fresh coconut, four teaspoons of sesame seeds (black is preferred) and a pinch of salt.[8] It takes 50 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to steam. The banana leaves are cut about 20 by 20 centimeters (8 by 8 inches), and the cakes are served warm or lukewarm.[8] That recipe notes it was handed down from generation to generation.[8]

History and origins

The origins of num kom are rooted in Khmer culture and carry a strong influence of Brahmanism from the time of the Khmer Empire.[1] The Royal Academy of Cambodia dates the cake's place in traditional ceremonies to the ancient period, and some documents link its use to the reign of King Jayavarman VII.[1]

The cake carries religious meaning. The researcher Heang Rith holds that num kom stands for the earth and the body of the goddess Uma.[1] The historian Sambo Manara holds that num kom and num ansorm are edible forms of the Yoni and the Lingam, the female and male emblems of Uma and her husband, the god Shiva.[5] In his view they stand for the rite of respect for mother and father, called Mea Ba. He dates the tradition to the first century, when Brahmanic belief shaped Cambodia, and holds that the idea continued in rice after the temples stopped making the Lingam and Yoni in stone.[5] He adds that the cakes can be used for Pchum Ben, weddings and other rites.[5] In the account published by 196 Flavors, the pyramid of num kom is the Yoni and the cylinder of num ansom is the Linga, so the two cakes are always paired.[4] Khmer Times gives the same reading of the pyramid shape as the Yoni of Uma.[6]

Some writers link num kom to rice cakes in India. 196 Flavors notes that the Indian kozhukattai or modak closely resembles it. The filling is the same, but the Indian version uses regular rice flour and is steamed directly.[4] The Dosaikal writer compares its making and filling to the South Indian poorana kozhukkattai and used homemade jaggery syrup in place of palm sugar.[2]

Regional and household variations

Peanuts or sesame are sometimes added to the coconut and palm sugar filling.[3] Other fillings include sweet beans or fruit.[5] Some cooks fill it with mung beans mixed with sugar.[7] One version is made from rice paste, palm sugar and coconut milk and filled with red bean.[6] The filled dough may also be shaped as a rectangle rather than a pyramid.[8]

Cambodian rice cakes come in many shapes, sizes and textures.[4] They include num bot; num ansom chek, filled with banana and served as a dessert; num ansom chrouk, a savory cake filled mainly with pork fat and green bean that can be a main course; and num chang, a savory dumpling with pork, sausage and beans that comes from the Chinese sticky rice dumpling.[4][2] Rice cakes may also have other fillings, such as pork.[2] Num sleuk chak is a similar dumpling of coconut and sticky rice wrapped in nipa palm leaves instead of banana leaves, and it is linked with Kampot and Sihanoukville.[3] Num kratom is cooked in palm fronds instead of banana leaves.[3] Num bort is a related sweet dumpling filled with mung bean and coconut and pressed into a flat rectangle for steaming.[3]

Preparations and recipes

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Wikipedia: Num kom
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Dosaikal, Num Kom-Sticky Rice Cakes with coconut filling/Khmer ... (September 9, 2013)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Tamale Digest, Cambodia (August 28, 2014)
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 196 Flavors, Num Kom
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Cambodgemag, Num Ansorm and Num Kom: Cambodia's Sacred Rice Cakes of Body, Belief, and Tradition (January 12, 2026)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Khmer Times, Cambodian Soul Food
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Chouk Khmer, នំខ្មែរធ្វើពីអង្ករ (July 8, 2013)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Guide voyage Cambodge, Num Kom gâteau de riz Cambodgien (May 22, 2024)
Retrieved from "https://dev.khmerconnection.com/w/index.php?title=Num_Kom&oldid=8907"
This page was last edited on 2 October 2026, at 01:35.