Kuih Dadar or Ketayap, is a pandan flavoured rolled crepe filled with grated coconut and palm sugar. Kuih is a term used for both sweet or savoury snacks in South East Asia. The thin pancakes are also called Dadar Gulung. Dadar, in Indonesian means pancakes, while Gulung means ‘to roll’.
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Southeast Asian Treat
It is a popular tea-time snack in Nyonya culture or Peranakan cuisine. The cuisine comes from descendants of early Chinese migrants who settled in Penang, Malacca, Singapore, and Indonesia, inter-marrying with local Malays.
You can often find street vendors selling a variety of Nyonya snacks at night markets or on busy roads. For us, this pandan rolled crepe is our favourite. Learn how to make the sweet treat with this simple Nyonya kuih recipe below.
Kuih Dadar Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you'll need to make kuih dadar at home. We've included some substitutes for our readers who are based overseas.
Pandan leaves
For our recipe, we're using Thai pandan leaves (called "bai toey hom") as these are easier to find in the UK. They are a bit bigger than the ones used in Malaysia and Singapore ("daun pandan") but less fragrant. One Thai pandan leaf is equivalent to 2 to 3 Malaysian pandan leaves. You can use more for a stronger fragrance.
Some recipes call for fewer pandan leaves. However, this will result in less aromatic kuih dadar with a faint green colour. This is also why some recipes recommend adding artificial food colouring to the pandan juice.
Our recipe uses more pandan leaves for a stronger flavour and bright green hue without using food colouring.
Palm sugar
Palm sugar is the best type of sugar to use in our recipe. If possible, you should use Gula Melaka, the most common type of palm sugar in Malaysia. It naturally has a coconut-like sweetness that other brown sugar types made from sugar cane do not. Light brown sugar or demerara would be a good substitute if you don't have access to palm sugar.
Coconut
If you can find fresh grated coconut, that would be better. Fresh grated coconut have more moisture and have a more vivid coconut taste. In comparison, the dried ones you find in the baking section of most supermarkets tend to be drier.
Kuih Dadar Recipe (Dadar Gulung Ketayap)
Ingredients
Pandan Juice
- 8 fresh pandan leaves cut into small chunks
- 200 ml water
Coconut Filling
- 100 g desiccated coconut
- 120 g palm sugar
- 200 ml water
Pancake Batter
- 150 g plain flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg medium
- 150 ml pandan juice from the first step
- 300 ml coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Cooking Instructions
For The Pandan Juice
- Cut the pandan leaves into small pieces. Blend this with the water in a food processor until smooth.
- Strain through a sieve and collect the pandan juice. This step can be made a few hours in advance to save some time.
For the Coconut Filling
- Mix the palm sugar with water in a pot over a medium heat.
- Once the palm sugar dissolves, add the desiccated coconut. Cover the pot and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and set aside to cool once most of the water has evaporated. The coconut and palm sugar mixture should have a thick and slightly sticky consistency.
For the Pancake Mix
- Sift the plain flour and salt into a large bowl.
- Add the egg and the pandan juice to the mixture and mix well.
- Incorporate the vegetable oil and coconut milk.
- Whisk until batter is smooth.
- Rest for the pancake batter for approximately 15 - 20 minutes.
- Pre heat a non stick saucepan over a low heat. Lightly grease the pan with a small amount of oil.
- Pour ¼ cup of the batter each time to get evenly sized pancakes.
- Begin pouring the batter from the middle, and pour slowly in a circular motion so that the batter spreads evenly on the saucepan.
- Once the edge turns a golden brown colour, flip using a spatula and cook the other side.
- Set aside to cool before assembling.
Assemble
- Put 1-2 tablespoon of the premade coconut filling into at one edge of the pancake.
- Fold the pancake over the filling and fold in the sides.
- Roll it up and serve.
Nutrition
Calories have been calculated using an online calculator. Nutritional information offered on Honest Food Talks is for general information purposes and is only a rough estimate.
Cooking tips
Make sure to squeeze out the pandan juice, as the leaves are quite fibrous and hold water.Using freshly made pandan juice will give the pancakes a sweeter and stronger aromatic scent from the pandan leaves.
You want to spread the batter swiftly around the pan to make a thin pancake. Thick pancakes will make the wrapper quite thick and tend to be less pleasant to eat. Many locals pay attention to this when they buy kuih dadar from stalls.
Each side of the pancake will usually takes about 1.5-2 mins when cooked at low heat. You don't want to cook for too long until it becomes too brown. While the browning doesn't affect the taste, we want to avoid this for aesthetic reasons.
When you add the desiccated coconut, the coconut filling might initially become quite watery. However, over time, the coconut will absorb the water and become sticky.
Ideally, let the kuih rest and set for awhile (about 15 minutes at least) before you serve. This helps the pancake rolls hold its shape.
Coconut to palm sugar ratio
We've served this to several family and friends. Some find it just nice, while some find it too sweet.
We find this ratio of palm sugar to be on the sweeter side, but that's because we like desserts that are not too sweet.
We suggest mixing a portion of the palm sugar with desiccated coconut and test-tasting first. If it is not sweet enough, add more palm sugar.
How to serve
Generally, you serve this at room temperature with more desiccated coconut and milk tea. The thin pancakes infused with natural pandan juice will present a bright green exterior.
Arielle
Absolutely love this kuih with coconut!
E
Hi, can this be kept overnight to be served tomorrow?
Ruiz Asri
You can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days. No problem to eat within a few days.
However, the texture may not come out as soft compared to if eaten fresh.
Manhwaland
Very informative post. Much thanks again. Fantastic.