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Kue putu
Pandan palm sugar cakes
Kue putu bambu: pandan rice-flour cakes steamed round molten palm sugar, rolled in coconut
After dark in Yogyakarta and Jakarta you can hear a kue putu seller before you see him: the steam cart whistles as the bamboo tubes cook. Each little cylinder is coarse pandan-green rice flour packed round a nugget of palm sugar, steamed for a few minutes until the sugar melts into a dark syrup, then pushed out and rolled in salted grated coconut. Eat them warm, straight away, as an evening snack. At home, small metal moulds, egg cups or a cut bamboo tube set over a steamer work well. Chef's tip: the rice flour must be damp and crumbly like wet sand, not a dough; pressing it too hard into the mould makes dense, rubbery cakes.
- Total time
- 45 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the rice-flour crumb
- 7 oz rice flourideally coarse, or homemade from soaked ground rice
- ½ cup pandan juice6 pandan leaves blended with 120 ml water and strained
- ½ tsp salt
For the filling and coating
- 3 ½ oz palm sugarfinely chopped
- 3 ½ oz grated coconutfresh or frozen
- 1 pinch salt
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What you'll need
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Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Toast 7 oz rice flour in a dry wok over a low heat, stirring, until it smells faintly nutty but hasn't coloured. Cool.
5 minStep 2: Sprinkle ½ cup pandan juice and ½ tsp salt over the flour a little at a time, rubbing with your fingertips, until it feels like damp sand that holds a clump when squeezed and then crumbles.
Step 3: Push the crumb through a coarse sieve to break up lumps; this keeps the cakes light.
Step 4: Steam 3 ½ oz grated coconut with 1 pinch salt for 5 minutes so it keeps fresh longer, then set aside.
5 minStep 5: Bring a steamer to a strong boil. Loosely fill a greased small mould or bamboo tube halfway with crumb, add a teaspoon of 3 ½ oz palm sugar, then top with more crumb without pressing hard.
Step 6: Steam over high heat until the crumb turns slightly translucent, holds together and the sugar inside has melted.
4 minStep 7: Push the putu out onto a plate and roll in the coconut. Repeat with the rest and eat warm.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 380 kcal
- Protein
- 4 g
- Carbs
- 70 g
- Fat
- 9 g
- Fibre
- 4 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does kue putu take?
- About 45 minutes in total: 25 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of palm sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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