🍢 SNACK
Num Kachay (Cambodian Chive Cakes)
Chewy rice-flour cakes packed with garlic chives, steamed until translucent and then pan-fried crisp and golden, with a sweet, sour and garlicky chilli fish-sauce dip.
Cambodian (Khmer) · medium · serves 4
prep 30 min · cook 35 min · plus 15 min hands-off time
~485 cal · 8g protein · 65g carbs · 22g fat · 2g fiber · 7g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Num kachay, often spelled nom ka chai, are one of the cheapest and most common street snacks in Cambodia. Vendors in Phnom Penh and in markets across the country keep a griddle of them sizzling, and sell them by the plate with a little bowl of dipping sauce; a shop near the National Museum sells four for about two dollars, enough for two people.
They are a Chinese dish made Cambodian. The dough is rice flour, often with some glutinous rice flour and tapioca starch for chew, and it is packed with chopped garlic chives. The cakes are steamed until the dough turns translucent, then fried in a little oil until the outside is crisp and blistered and the inside stays soft and springy.
The dip is a matter of taste. Many stalls serve a sweet with garlic, chilli and lime, and others a mix of soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and chilli; either way it should be sweet, sour and a little hot.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 150 g rice flour
- 50 g glutinous rice flour
- 60 g tapioca starch
- 1/2 tsp salt
- about 300 ml boiling water
- 1 tbsp (for the dough)
- 200 g (1 large bunch) garlic chives, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced (for the chives)
- 1 tbsp (for the chives)
- 1/2 tsp sugar (for the chives)
- 4 tbsp , for pan-frying
- 2 tbsp (for the dip)
- 2 tbsp sugar (for the dip)
- 2 tbsp lime juice or white vinegar
- 3 tbsp warm water (for the dip)
- 1 garlic clove, minced (for the dip)
- 1 to 2 bird's eye chillies, sliced
Instructions
- 1Make the dip first: stir the fish sauce, sugar, lime juice and warm water until the sugar dissolves, then add the garlic and chilli and set aside.
- 2Warm 1 tbsp oil in a pan, fry the garlic for a few seconds, add the chives with the sugar and a pinch of salt and toss for 1 minute, just until wilted. Let cool.
- 3Mix the rice flour, glutinous rice flour, tapioca starch and salt in a bowl. Pour in the boiling water gradually, stirring with chopsticks, until it comes together as a soft, sticky dough. When cool enough to handle, add the 1 tbsp oil and knead until smooth, then knead in the chives.✎ Chef’s noteAdd the water a little at a time; rice flours vary. The dough should be soft but not stick to oiled hands.
- 4With oiled hands, divide into 12 to 16 balls and flatten each into a disc about 1 cm thick. Steam them on oiled baking paper, not touching, for 15 to 20 minutes, until the dough turns translucent and firm. Leave to cool for 15 minutes.
- 5Heat the frying oil in a wide non-stick or cast-iron pan over medium heat and fry the cakes in batches for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until crisp and golden. Serve hot with the dip.
Cambodian street-food tradition, of Chinese origin.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Phnom Penh. Much of the eating happens in and around the markets. Phsar Thmei, the Central Market, was built in 1937 under French rule, a yellow Art Deco dome over a cross-shaped hall, and its food stalls open at dawn for noodle soup. Around the city, griddle snacks with Chinese roots such as num kachay, crisp rice-flour chive cakes, are sold cheaply by the plate with a sweet chili dip.
🗺️
Cambodia. Amok is steamed rather than stewed: freshwater fish folded through kroeung and coconut cream, poured into a cup folded from banana leaf and set over steam until egg sets it into something between a custard and a mousse. Kroeung itself comes in colours, yellow, red and green, built on lemongrass, galangal, turmeric and kaffir lime zest.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Cambodia
Fish AmokA silky steamed fish curry-custard in banana-leaf cups, built on pounded lemongrass kroeung and coconut cream.
Bai Sach ChroukThinly sliced grilled coconut-marinated pork over broken rice, with pickles and a clear broth.
Nom Banh ChokRice noodles under a fragrant green fish-and-lemongrass gravy, piled with raw vegetables, Cambodia's Khmer noodles.
Browse all Cambodia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Steamer.
Storing it: Uncooked parcels freeze well and cook from frozen. Cooked ones keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and steam or pan-warm to serve.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Num Kachay (Cambodian Chive Cakes)?
Chewy rice-flour cakes packed with garlic chives, steamed until translucent and then pan-fried crisp and golden, with a sweet, sour and garlicky chilli fish-sauce dip.
Where does Num Kachay (Cambodian Chive Cakes) come from?
Num Kachay (Cambodian Chive Cakes) is a Cambodian (Khmer) dish from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Can Num Kachay (Cambodian Chive Cakes) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Num Kachay (Cambodian Chive Cakes) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Num Kachay (Cambodian Chive Cakes) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Num Kachay (Cambodian Chive Cakes) take to make?
About 1 h 20 min in all: 30 minutes prep and 35 minutes cooking, plus 15 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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