Rice flour in Poland: what it is called and where to find it

Rice flour in Poland is sold as mąka ryżowa: finely ground rice, usually white, with a neutral taste. Many Polish supermarkets sell it, often next to the gluten-free flours, and Indian shops also sell flours ground for South Indian dishes. In Indian cooking it makes thin flatbreads, idiyappam noodles, puttu and crisp batters.

Rice flour on Polish packs

These are the words you will see on a Polish label:

Indian shops sell rice flour in 500 g and 1 kg packs, often with the English name "rice flour" on the front, and also flours made for one dish, such as idiyappam or puttu flour.

Types of rice flour

• White rice flour. The most common. Fine, smooth and neutral in taste.
• Brown rice flour. Made from whole-grain rice. Slightly nutty and darker.
• Glutinous rice flour (sweet rice flour, mąka z ryżu kleistego). Made from a rice variety that turns very sticky when cooked. Despite the name, it contains no gluten. It is used for mochi, tang yuan dumplings and Asian desserts. Do not use it in place of ordinary rice flour.
• Rice flours for one dish. Indian shops sell flours for appam, idiyappam, puttu or pathiri. They differ in how fine they are and whether the rice was roasted first.

Rice contains no gluten. If you avoid gluten, still check the label, because the flour may have been made where wheat is also milled.

Rice flour and rice flakes are not the same

Rice flakes (poha, aval, płatki ryżowe in Polish) are soaked and heated rice, pressed flat between rollers. They are not ground into flour. Poha is a breakfast dish of rice flakes with onion, turmeric and peanuts. Rice flour is a different product and cannot replace the flakes.

How to use rice flour in Indian cooking

1. Crisp batter. Add 2 tablespoons of rice flour to a gram flour (besan) batter for pakora. The pakoras will be crisper.
2. Akki roti. Flatbreads of rice flour, water and salt, popular in South India. Knead the dough with hot water, because rice flour does not bind like wheat flour.
3. Idiyappam. Thin noodles pressed from rice flour dough and steamed, served with coconut curry.
4. Puttu. Damp rice flour layered with grated coconut and steamed in a special pot.
5. Rava dosa. A quick dosa from rice flour, semolina and water, with no fermentation.

Classic dosa and idli are made from soaked and ground rice with urad dal, not from dry flour. See our dosa and idli recipe.

In Nepali cooking, sel roti, sweet fried rings made for festivals, are made from a rice batter.

Other uses at home

• To thicken sauces and soups. Mix a tablespoon of rice flour with cold water and stir it into the hot sauce. It thickens after a minute or two of cooking.
• To coat fish or vegetables. They come out lightly crisp after frying.
• For baking without wheat flour. Rice flour on its own gives a crumbly, dry cake. It works better mixed with a starch, such as corn starch or tapioca.

Keep rice flour in a closed container in a dry, cool place. Brown rice flour goes rancid faster, so buy it in smaller packs.

Where to buy rice flour in Poland

Little India sells India Gate rice flour 1 kg, Eastern idiyappam rice flour and Pansari rice flour 500 g. There are also rice flakes for poha. Little India has shops in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław and Gdańsk and ships orders across Poland.

For other rice and tapioca products, read about sago, sabudana and tapioca.