Nyonya kuih—or Nyonya sweet cakes—is a big part of Nyonya cuisine. In fact, Nyonya kuih is iconic, 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: A Complete Guide to Penang Straits Chinese Cuisine. 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.
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- When the crepe is cooked, transfer it onto a chopping board.
- Place 2 heaped teaspoons of filing on the crepe and roll it up like a spring roll.
- Serve immediately.
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I had Nyonya kuih in the past (except i didn’t know how they were called) and i always wondered how they were made. I love these! You think you could put a few in your purse and bring to NY next week? Come on Bee. ;)
Zen – get me the ingredients and I will make them for you. ;)
Hi RM, may I know where you get grated coconut and pandan leaves in the US? I cannot find them… :( THANK YOU!!!
Su Yee, you can find grated coconut and pandan leaves in the frozen food section of Asian stores. They are always available at Vietnamese stores. Good luck!!
I love kuih dadar. We’ve got the same version in Indonesia and it’s called kue dadar there, as far as I know. Malaysia and Indonesia seem to have got very similar culinary variety.
Hi Cooking Gallery – yes, I agree. In fact, in Southeast Asia, there are many similarities in terms of our foods. I am not surprised that this kuih dadar has its roots in Indonesian cuisine. :)
My grandmothers used to grow this in our backyard (back when I was growing up in Indonesia). Every time I get a whiff of this scent, it takes me right back to her and our time together. Great posting!
i love your site.Carry on to write tasty asian food.
im from indo,also have tasty recipes 2 share oneday…
thanks for doing this`blog. I am chinese malaysian live permanently in Australia. I am not a`good cook but when my friend told`me this`blog. I looked at it and thank god now I can cook homecook Malaysian food at home for my husband and my son. very happy ..
Lynn – great to hear that. Enjoy the recipes on this site and also Rasa Malaysia. :)
Nyonya cuisine is very similar to Indonesian cuisine. Anyway, to the best of my knowledge, the natural green colour that we use for colouring is daun suji. Daun pandan is usually only for fragrant but not the best one for colouring.
So, we combine both leaves, suji and pandan together.
Yes, I don’t doubt that Nyonya food has a lot of similarities to Indonesian cuisine. Many Nyonya only know how to speak Malay.
This is amazing i used a lot of this great imfo for my homework. On the country im from. My fav nyonya kuih is kuih tayap.
Hiya, love your website!!This Kuih Dadar reminds me of home, they are one of my favourite nyonya kuih!I am going to try out this recipes :)) Keep up the good work X