Khanom Tang Taek (ขนมถังแตก)

The Snack With The Unlucky Name

ถังแตก means a burst bucket — Thai slang for being flat broke. It is an odd thing to call a sweet, and that is exactly what modern vendors decided: the name bullied the snack. Kapook and Aroifin both record the rebrand, and MGR Online tells the business story — a group of four friends in Bangkok relaunched the pancake as ถังทอง (golden bucket), filled it with gold-toned fillings, took it to Siam Paragon, and watched sales pass six figures a month. The classic coconut version, by the same logic, is sold as ถังเงิน (silver bucket).

The English name is older than the rebrand. Thai Wikipedia cites mid-2000s sources calling it the Poorman's Pancake — and the snack does look the part: a big, soft, puffed rice-flour pancake, a cousin of the crisp, thin khanom buang, but larger and tender. Wikipedia and Aroifin agree it was once a temple-fair exclusive — you found it only at งานวัด — and only later spread to local markets and roadside stalls.

The pancake itself is honest food: rice flour and coconut milk, leavened with yeast, cooked covered so the steam does the puffing, then folded over a salty-sweet filling of steamed coconut and sesame sugar while it is still on the pan.

The Recipe (home version, from Kapook / แม่ซี น้องมดดี้ Channel)

The soft-crumb version (TrueID / แม่ซี น้องมดดี้): the same batter scaled up for selling — 500 g rice flour, 200 g plain flour, 200 g sugar, 150 ml coconut milk, 600 ml water, plus one egg and a teaspoon of vanilla, yeast and a full tablespoon of baking powder — rested three hours so the dough stays soft even once the pancake cools. The traditional temple version (Wongnai): rice flour and plain flour with yeast and sugar, rested only 30 minutes, then baking powder and baking soda added at the last moment; the filling is young coconut shavings tossed with salt, and the pancake is done when the batter turns from translucent to white and a pressed finger does not sink in.

The Method

1. The yeast. Stir the yeast with a spoon of the sugar into a little warm water and leave it 15 minutes until foamy — Kapook and TrueID both insist the water must be warm, never hot, or the yeast dies before it works. This is the step that decides whether the pancake puffs at all.
2. The batter. Sift the rice flour and plain flour with the salt and baking powder, then stir in the coconut milk, the rest of the water and the bloomed yeast. TrueID's seller-sourced version adds an egg and vanilla at this point — optional, but it makes a softer crumb.
3. The rest. Cover and leave the batter about three hours — TrueID calls it letting the flour drink (แป้งอิ่มน้ำ) — or overnight, which Kapook's headline promises you can skip. Rushed batter makes flat, heavy pancakes; every source rests it.
4. The filling. Steam the grated coconut about five minutes and toss it with a pinch of salt, and toast the sesame until it smells nutty, crush it lightly, and stir it through sugar. The filling is deliberately salty-sweet: the salt is what makes the sugar and coconut taste of themselves.
5. The steam. Lightly oil a non-stick pan over a medium-low flame — Aroifin's rule is a medium-to-low heat so the inside cooks before the outside burns — ladle in the batter, and close the lid. Two minutes of trapped steam is the whole trick: the pancake inflates instead of browning.
6. The fold. Open the lid, spoon the coconut and sesame sugar over one half, and fold the pancake shut with a spatula while it is still on the pan. Serve warm, straight away. Wongnai's test for a finished pancake: the batter turns from translucent to white, and a finger pressed into it springs back.

Where Thai Sources Disagree

How Western Versions Get It Wrong

• Cooking it like a crepe. Tang taek is thick, soft and steamed, not spread paper-thin and crisped. If your pancake shatters, you have made a khanom buang shell by mistake. The lid is the recipe: trapped steam does the rising.
• Skipping the rest. Rice flour needs time to hydrate and yeast needs time to work. Mix-and-fry immediately and the pancake comes out flat and stodgy — every Thai source rests the batter, from Wongnai's half hour to an overnight soak.
• Wheat flour as the base. The pancake is built on rice flour with plain flour in support; a pure wheat batter makes it a western pancake with coconut in it. The rice flour is what gives the soft, springy Thai crumb.
• Sweet-only filling. The coconut filling is salted on purpose. Miss the pinch of salt and the sugar sits flat on top of the coconut instead of cutting through it.
• Filling it off the heat. The fold happens in the pan, while the pancake is hot and flexible. Folded cold on a plate, the seam opens and the sesame sugar falls out the back.

UK Ingredient Notes

• Rice flour: any Asian supermarket, or the free-from aisle of big UK supermarkets (often labelled gluten-free rice flour).
• Grated coconut: mature coconut (มะพร้าวทึนทึก) is rare in UK shops — use frozen grated coconut from an Asian grocer, or rehydrate desiccated coconut in warm water until it is moist and chewy.
• Coconut milk: full-fat canned, one 400 ml tin covers the recipe with a little over; Aroifin's tip is to use real coconut milk rather than fresh milk for the Thai aroma.
• Foi thong and custard for the golden-bucket version: ready-made at Thai grocers, or make the foi thong from egg yolks and sugar syrup.
• Equipment: a non-stick frying pan with a lid — the traditional street pan is a deep bucket-like wok, but any lidded pan does the steaming job.

Sources

This recipe is translated from the following Thai-language sources. Where they disagree, we've said so.