Kao puk (khaw pote) — steamed sticky rice pounded in a wooden mortar into a smooth dough, formed into flat round cakes, sun-dried, then grilled over charcoal until it puffs into a crisp shell with a soft interior; eaten with palm sugar (sweet) or dusted with sesame and salt (savory). A Shan-highland roadside staple.
A Shan (and Kachin) highland staple from eastern Shan State, where fresh-steamed sticky rice is pounded with perilla seed or sesame and grilled to order at village and town markets.
Pyay-Yangon highway truck-stop stalls sell two cakes for 500 kyat, wrapped in the leaf with a toothpick spike — eaten one-handed at the wheel.
A charcoal-grilled cake with a crisp puffed shell and a soft, chewy pounded-rice center, greyish-white tinged purple. Sweet versions are eaten with palm sugar; savory ones are dusted with ground sesame (or perilla) and salt.
The rice must be pounded while still hot from steaming so its amylopectin binds into a smooth, even dough; cold rice will not bind. The formed cake is sun-dried to shed surface moisture, then grilled so the outside sets into a crisp shell while trapped steam puffs it, leaving the center soft.
Variations
Shan tradition pounds perilla seed into the rice (giving a greyish-purple cake) and dips it in raw palm sugar or ground perilla; sesame is a common substitute. The Inle area often blends in purple sticky rice for a darker cake. Beyond grilling, the cakes are also pan-fried; savory versions may be eaten with fermented tofu.
On the Palate
Where Sticky Rice Cakes sits in the Burmese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
4 steps · 18 min active + 5 hours waiting
- 1240 min
Soak 500 g glutinous rice 4 hr; drain.
- 23 min
Mix rice with 250 ml coconut milk + 1 tsp salt + 30 g sugar (if sweet).
Watch outStir the rice with the coconut milk until every grain is coated and glossy — evenly wetted rice steams up soft and even, dry patches stay chalky.
- 315 min
Wrap 80 g portions in banana leaf into rectangles; tie with string.
- 460 min
Steam 1 hr until rice is tender.
Watch outSteam until the rice is fully tender and translucent and the grains cling together — chalky centers mean it needs longer over the steam.
