Rice flour, the mont-maker
ဆန်မှုန့်
The plain white flour behind Burma’s vast mont family — steamed, griddled, and fried snacks.
Also answers to: hsan hmont · plain rice flour
Rice flour is simply ordinary (non-glutinous) rice milled to a powder, and it is the base of much of the mont universe — the enormous Burmese family of snacks and sweets that fills market mornings. Batters of rice flour, water, and not much else become steamed cakes, coconut-laced griddle cakes like mont pyar thalet, and the crisp-edged mont lin ma yar (“married couple snacks”) cooked in dimpled pans.
It behaves nothing like wheat flour: no gluten means no stretch, so rice-flour batters set rather than rise, giving that characteristic tender-bouncy crumb. Burmese cooks traditionally soaked and wet-ground rice at home or bought flour fresh-milled from the market; the bagged flour we buy abroad is drier and slightly coarser, which is why resting a rice-flour batter for 20–30 minutes — letting the flour fully hydrate — noticeably improves almost every mont recipe.
Do not confuse it with glutinous rice flour, which is a different ingredient with a different job (chew and cling, not set). Recipes on this site always distinguish the two; the bags at the store are usually red-labeled for glutinous and plain or green for regular in the common Thai brands, but read the words, not the color.
Choosing itရွေးချယ်ခြင်း
Thai bagged rice flour (the Erawan-style paper bags in every Asian grocer) is cheap, consistent, and exactly right. Check the label says rice flour only — no blends. Stone-ground “rice flour” from health-food stores is often coarser and meant for baking substitution; it works in a pinch but gives a sandier crumb in steamed sweets. Fine Indian rice flour (sold for dosa or idiyappam) is a good alternative.
Keeping itသိမ်းဆည်းခြင်း
Sealed and cool, rice flour keeps six months to a year without complaint — it is low in oils, so it stales slower than whole-grain flours. Humidity is the enemy: once it clumps hard, it hydrates unevenly in batters. A clip and a dry cupboard are enough in most kitchens; a jar is better.
In the potမီးဖိုချောင်တွင်
On this site rice flour builds steamed and griddled sweets, dusts and crisps fritters, and occasionally tightens a batter that chickpea flour alone would make too heavy. Whisk it into cool liquid first — it lumps in hot — and rest the batter before cooking. When a recipe pairs it with glutinous rice flour, the ratio is the texture dial: more plain flour sets firmer, more glutinous chews longer.
ဝယ်ယူရန် · Getting it
Buy the real thing
Rice flour — shelf-stable and shippable, unlike most of the fresh aisle.
Find it on Amazonဟင်းလျာများ · Cooked with it
