Indonesian Cakes & Desserts,
Periplus Mini Cookbooks series, Periplus Publishing
It’s no secret that Indonesians love their snacks (jajan). Whether wrapped in banana leaf and steamed, encased in dough and fried, stacked in layers and baked, or rolled into balls and boiled, Indonesian cakes and desserts make delicious makanan kecil to be enjoyed throughout the day even for breakfast!
These smooth and steamy, soft and crunchy leaf-wrapped hors d'oeuvres are sold from carts and markets in every village and town in the nation. Varieties of sweets and finger snacks are endless: vivid pink puffed rice; gaily colored rice pastries; luminous green, red, and blue sweets made from cassava; lentil pastes; a vast array of kue (cakes); coconut and crunchy peanut cookies; sweet mung bean soups; sticky banana cakes. Lemper is a sweet, glutinous fruit pudding; it's no coincidence the word sounds like lumpur (mud). Kolak is a sweet coconut broth filled with cassava, banana, and jackfruit. Kue dadar are crepes filled with shredded coconut and sweetened with brown sugar. Bananas steamed, deep-fried, or boiled cost only about Rp 200 each.
Many native desserts derive from sticky or glutinous rice. Ketan is rice pudding cooked in coconut milk and sugar syrup; kue lapis is a layered pudding of rice flour or mung bean flour. Lontong, a main ingredient in gado-gado, is rice cooked in banana leaves - tastes something like cold Cream of Wheat. Bubur santen is rice porridge cooked in palm sugar and coconut milk. After cooking, what sticks to the bottom of the pot is brown, crunchy, and sticky - a snack much coveted by Indonesian children.
Ice cream is available in all the usual flavors, plus durian, coconut cream, and lychee. Sweet corn kernel ice cream is another Indonesian treat. Bakeries often specialize in homemade ice cream, or you can stick with locally manufactured brands like Peters and Flippers.
A common kampong dessert is es campur – the Indonesian equivalent of the banana split. A typical es campur consists of sweet syrup water, milk, gelatin, sweet bread cubes, tape (tapioca), and various other coagulated pulpy substances in snake-like curls, balls, pellets, or mash, in colors ranging from bright green to chartreuse. Es campur costs anywhere from Rp 500 in a small warung or Rp 2500 from a restaurant concessionaire.
During Hari Raya, pastries, homemade cookies, and sweetmeats are offered to guests. On Asjura, a Muslim holiday, you may be confronted with bubur asjura, a rice porridge of peanuts, eggs, and sweet beans. It’s akin to eating sweet slimy worms!
Indonesian Cakes & Desserts is a collection of over 30 of the country’s favorite dessert recipes, highlighting the tastiest cakes, puffs, slices, banana-leaf wraps and puddings from all over the archipelago.
Surprise friends and family with such delights as stuffed rice flour cakes (kue koci), sweet banana rice rolls (legondo), rice and custard layers (katrisolo), chicken and prawn puffs (pastel goreng), baked rice flour cookies (sagon baker) and durian cookies (duri-durian).
With its easy to follow recipes and detailed step-by-step photographs, this small dessert cookbook will guarantee delicious results every time. A very good buy.
Indonesian Cakes & Desserts, Periplus Mini Cookbooks series, Periplus Publishing 2002, ISNB 962-8234-24-5, measure conversion tables, glossary, index, 64 pages.
Available for Rp20,000 at Periplus Bookshops in the Bali Galleria and in the Matahari in Kuta, Warung Made in Seminyak, Ngurah Rai Airport (both international and domestic terminals), in Gramedia Bookstores, and in Ary’s, Ganesha and Periplus bookshops of Ubud.
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Copyright@2005 PakBill
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