Nyonya sweet cakes - Kuih Dadar/Kuih Tayap Recipe

Nyonya kuih—or Nyonya sweet cakes—is a big part of Nyonya cuisine. In fact, Nyonya kuih isiconic, so much so that it outshines savory dishes. Ask anyone around and it’s likely that they have had some sort of Nyonya kuih, but may not have sampled other Nyonya dishes. Many Nyonya kuih are simply adaptations of Malay kuih-muih, or Malay version of sweet cakes and desserts.

Kuih dadar or kuih tayap is a rolled crepe flavored with pandan juice and filled with grated coconut steeped in gula melaka or Malaysian palm sugar. Pandan leaf is the core ingredient of kuih dadar/kuih tayap. The green exterior of kuih dadar is made of batter colored with natural pandan juice extracted from pandan leaves. Nowadays, many kuih vendors use artificial coloring for convenience purposes, but the end product usually lacks the tempting sweet fragrance of pandan leaves. Also, the coloring appear somewhat bright or fluorescent green, a sure-fire tell tale sign of artificial coloring…

This kuih dadar/kuih tayap recipe is adapted from Nyonya Flavours. Making Nyonya kuih is no simple affair but I find kuih dadar to be rather painless to make and the end result is beautiful and gratifying, especially if you have a sweet tooth.

Kuih Dadar/Kuih Tayap Recipe

Pandan Crepe with Coconut Filling

Ingredients:

Pandan Juice
5 pandan leaves, chopped
3-4 tablespoons water

Crepe Batter
120g flour
1 egg
300ml coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon pandan juice

Filling
90g Gula Melaka (Malaysian palm sugar)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pandan leaf, knotted
50 ml water
1/2 grated coconut (white part only)
1 tsp corn starch

Method:

1. Combine the pandan leaf and water in an electronic blender and blend for a minute. Wrap the pandan in a cheese cloth or muslin cloth and squeeze to extract the juice or strain through a fine sieve. Set aside.
2. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and crack in the egg. Slowly stir in the salted coconut milk and 3 tablespoons pandan juice. Set aside.
3. Break up the palm sugar and combine with the sugar, pandan leaf and water in a pot. Cover over a medium flame until sugar dissolves. Strain the syrup and return it to the pot. Add in the grated coconut and corn starch and continue to cook for a few minutes. Dish out into a bowl.
4. Heat up a shallow frying pan over a low flame and grease lightly with oil. Pour 2 tablespoons of the batter in the center and swirl the pan to coat it form a thin crepe of about 13 cm in diameter.
5. When the crepe is cooked, transfer it onto a chopping board.
6. Place 2 heaped teaspoons of filing on the crepe and roll it up like a spring roll.
7. Serve immediately.

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