Kuih Dadar (Ketayap), Simple Pandan Crepe Recipe
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’.
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.
How to Make Dadar Gulung
Ingredients
For the pandan juice (this can be made a few hours in advance)
- 8 fresh pandan leaves, cut into small chunks
- 200ml water
For the coconut filling
- 240g palm sugar
- 400ml water
- 200g desiccated coconut
For the pancakes
- 150g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 150 – 170ml pandan juice (from the first step)
- 300ml coconut milk
- 1 tbsp veg oil
Time Needed : 1 hours
To break it down, it's a crepe rolled up with a filling of palm sugar and grated coconut. The thin crepe is made by stirring flour together with egg, coconut milk, and pandan juice – whilst adding a pinch of salt will give it that desirable salty contrast with the sweet filling. A suggested serving of 2 coconut pancakes has 300 calories. The following Kuih Dadar recipe serves 4-6 people.
- Make the pandan juice
Blend the pandan leaves and water in a small food processor until smooth.
Strain the liquid through a fine sieve, or muslin to extract the juice. - Make the coconut filling
Dissolve the sugar with the water in a saucepan over medium heat.
Once the sugar is dissolved, add the desiccated coconut and simmer on low heat covered for 12 minutes until almost all water has evaporated, and the mixture has the consistency of wet sand.
Remove mixture from the pan and set aside to cool. - Make the pancake batter
Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the large egg to the measuring jug containing the pandan juice, and beat.
Then add the coconut milk, oil, and stir.
Whisk the wet ingredients gradually into the dry to make a smooth batter.
Let this rest for 20 minutes. - Fry the pancakes
Heat up a small shallow non-stick pancake pan over a low flame and grease with oil for the first pancake.
Using a small ladle, ladle the batter just off centre in the pan, swirl to coat base to form a thin, even pancake. When the batter sets and or the edges are turning golden brown, flip and cook for a further 10 seconds.
You should end up with around 15 pancakes of 20cm diameter.
Move the pancake to a plate and place a piece of greaseproof paper on top to avoid sticking. Repeat making more until batter is all used. - Roll the pancakes
Put 1.5 tablespoons of the coconut mixture just above the bottom edge of a pancake, fold the pancake over the filling, fold in the sides to enclose the filling and roll it up.
Finally, serve the pancakes with desiccated coconut and milk tea. Infused with natural pandan juice, the thin pancakes will present a bright green exterior. Using freshly made pandan juice will give the pancakes a sweeter and stronger aromatic scent from the pandan leaves. For those living in London, pandan leaves can be bought from Chinese supermarkets in Chinatown or any Wing Yip branch.
If you’re feeling lazy, some vendors in London also sell freshly made kuih dadar such as Sambal Shiok.
Looking for more sweet treats to try out? Read our interview with Sarah Hogan, Founder of Happy Hour Cakes.
What's Your Reaction?
