When making baked goods or pastries with a crust, such as omelets, flour is often the primary ingredient. However, rice flour can actually replace flour in many recipes! What are some common rice flour products available on the market? What’s the difference between rice flour and wheat flour?

After learning about rice flour, I’ll also share how to use it to make longan cake and traditional omelets.

What kind of ingredient is rice flour?

Rice flour can be divided into two categories: “raw flour” and “cooked flour.” Raw flour is made by soaking, wet-grinding, and drying refined white rice. For example, rice flour is made from glutinous rice balls (tangyuan) eaten during the Lantern Festival and the Winter Solstice, as well as radish cakes, rice cakes, and bowl cakes for the Spring Festival.

Cooked flour is made by steaming, roasting, or other methods to cook rice grains. It is commonly used in rice bran, pho cakes, snow cakes, and gao zi lun.

What’s the difference between rice flour and wheat flour?

Rice flour is rich in protein and easier to digest. It doesn’t contain the gluten found in wheat flour, making it less likely to cause allergies. Furthermore, rice flour has a denser, more viscous nature and absorbs less oil. After baking, it develops a distinctive rice aroma and contributes to the health benefits of baked goods like rice bread. Therefore, besides wheat flour, rice flour is another option for baking and pastry.

Make your own “Longan Cake” and “Old-Fashioned Egg Pancake” using rice flour!

The first dish is the “Longan Cake.” Rice flour has excellent water retention. It’s crispy yet not tough when used in cookies, and moist and fluffy when used in cakes!

The second dish is the “Old-Fashioned Egg Pancake,” which is thick yet chewy, with a rich rice aroma and unique flavor! Which one are you most excited to make?

Longan Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

50g brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 egg

45g milk

50g oil

70g dried longan (recommended: soak in Yakult overnight)

30g chopped walnuts

90g rice flour

1/2 teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 180°C.

In a bowl, whisk together brown sugar, salt, and egg. Add milk. First, add half of the flour and mix well. Gradually add the oil, then gradually add the remaining flour.

Add the dried longan, mix well, and pour into the pan until about 70% full. Top with chopped walnuts.

Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. Once cooked through, remove from the oven and let cool.

Old-Fashioned Egg Pancake Recipe

Ingredients:

80g rice flour

30g sweet potato flour

150g water

salt to taste

1 egg

chopped green onions to taste.

Instructions:

Mix the rice flour, sweet potato flour, and salt with the water.

Add oil to a hot pan, pour in the rice paste, sprinkle with chopped green onions, and wait for the paste to form.

Once the rice paste is formed, beat in the egg and pan-fry on both sides until cooked through. Adjust the pan-frying time to achieve a desired crispiness.