Malaysian Pandan pancakes with palm sugar and coconut filling

In the UK, it’s not so easy to get coconut like this so we have to substitute with using canned or powdered coconut milk, rehydrated dessicated coconut or frozen grated coconut in some Asian grocers. For most recipes, these work quite well as an alternative.

Pandan Flavoured desserts

Pandan is commonly used for flavouring and colouring both sweet and savoury recipes in Malaysian and South East Asian cuisine. Pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius) or screwpine is a long leafy plant. The leaf is not just used in food but is often used as an air freshener too. The smell has been described as grassy or vanilla like but too much of it can be quite sickly. You might find dried pandan leaves used as a fragrance in taxis and homes.

In desserts, the leaves can be pounded or blended and the juice is used as a green colouring and flavouring. The leaves are used whole when cooking rice or added to hot dessert soups for a hint of flavour. In Sri Lanka, pandan leaves are added to curry sauces.

This Nyonya Pandan Pancake (Kuih Dadar) recipe is a tea time favourite, sold in lots of street food stalls. It’s a pandan flavoured pancake filled with a grated coconut filling sweetened with dark caramel flavoured Gula Melaka, Malaysian palm sugar. Yes, it is meant to be green as it uses the juice of the pandan leaves for both flavouring and colouring.

It’s quite easy to make and the filling can be made well in advance and stored in the fridge.

How to make Malaysian Pandan pancakes

The pancake batter is quite simple, like a regular pancake batter but with the addition of pandan juice for the colour and flavour and coconut milk for some richness. The pandan leaves are blended and the juice extracted before adding to the pancake batter. If you can’t find pandan leaves at your local Asian grocer, you can add pandan essence instead. If you want a brighter green colour, you can add a few drops of green food colouring. Make the pancakes quite thin as you don’t want the finished product to have too much pancake to filling ratio.

The palm sugar coconut filling is made by melting Malaysian palm sugar and cooking grated coconut. Taste for sweetness and add sugar if you want it sweeter. Note that Thai palm sugar has a much lighter colour and a completely different flavour so it won’t work well in this recipe. Malaysian palm sugar or gula melaka is a dark caramel colour and has a very different flavour.

Once the pancakes are ready, add the filling at one end of the pancakes and roll it up like a spring roll. If the pancake batter is too thick, it won’t be very good eating.

I like to serve it with some ice cream and a drizzle of melted palm sugar.

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Malaysian Pandan pancakes with palm sugar and coconut stuffing

A very simple but delicious pancake recipe made with a coconut milk pancake batter and a sweet and unctious coconut filling

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Ingredients

For the filling

• 400 g dessicated coconut
• 150 g Malaysian Gula Melaka palm sugar
• 3 strips of pandan leaves
• 125 ml water
• 5 tbsp sugar

For the pancake batter

• 300 g plain flour
• 250 ml pandan water blend 250ml water + 15 pandan leaves
• 400 ml/ 1 Can Coconut Milk
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• 1 tbsp cold pressed rapeseed oil some butter for frying
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

For the batter

• Blend the pandan leaves with some water
• Squeeze the green juice through some muslin or a fine sieve. This will result in a fragrant jewel green liquid
• Sift the flour in a mixing bowl and make a well, add the salt
• Pour in the liquids and the egg and mix well
• Adjust your ingredients to make a batter that coats the back of your spoon
• Leave aside and make the filling

Coconut Filling

• To make the filling, chop up the Gula Melaka
• In a pan, melt the Gula Melaka, sugar and the pandan leaves in water over a slow heat
• When the sugar is melted, add the coconut and stir well
• If the mixture looks a bit too dry, add a bit of water
• Cook on a low heat for about 15 minutes as you want the coconut mixture to be moist and not dry
• Let it cool before the next step
• Make the pancakes in a small frying pan or a specialised crepe pan. It might take a few test pancakes to get the pan seasoned correctly. You can use oil and a bit of butter to oil the pan for a bit of flavour and to prevent sticking
  
• Spoon about 2 tbsp of the pancake batter evenly and cook for about 1 minute. It should be cooked through but not too brown
• Layout the pancake on a clean surface and spoon on 2 tbsp of the coconut filling
• Fold like a spring roll
  
• To serve cut at an angle and serve with some ice cream and if you like a drizzle of melted Gula Melaka.

Notes

Don’t be alarmed by the colour as it should be green from the pandan leaves.

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