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A simple eggy flour-and-coconut-milk batter is whisked together with turmeric for colour and left to rest. A separate filling of palm jaggery is melted with grated coconut, cardamom, nutmeg and a pinch of salt until thick and glossy. Pancakes are cooked in a hot pan with a thin film of ghee, the filling spooned along one edge and rolled into a long log. Served warm, with a dusting of fresh coconut on top.
A simple custard of whole eggs, condensed milk and evaporated milk is poured over a hard caramel base and baked in a bain-marie at low temperature for a silken set. The caramel melts into a sauce as the flan chills overnight in the fridge. Tipped out onto a plate, the dark caramel runs down the sides and pools at the base.
A simple batter of semolina, yogurt, sugar, butter and coconut is baked in a shallow tray. The classic move: the cake is cut into diamonds before baking so the syrup soaks through the cuts later. Hot syrup is poured over the warm cake and disappears in seconds, leaving the surface tacky-glossy. Topped with a single almond on each diamond.
A single batter is made from coconut milk, egg yolks, plain flour, sugar and nutmeg. The bebinca is built in a small round dish layer by layer: a ladle of batter, ghee brushed on top, grilled until the surface is dark brown, then another ladle of batter, ghee, grill, repeat. Each layer is paper-thin; the finished cake has 16-20 visible layers when sliced. Patient work but the technique is simple. Tastes of coconut, nutmeg and gentle caramel.
Rice flour, glutinous rice flour, sugar, baking powder and salt are sifted together. Coconut milk, melted butter and beaten eggs are whisked in until smooth. A banana leaf lines a cake tin (or individual ramekins), brushed with butter. The batter is poured in to 2 cm depth. Baked at 200°C 15 minutes; salted egg slices and grated cheese are pressed on top; baked another 10 minutes. Finished with butter, sugar and a thick layer of fresh grated coconut.
A wet dough is made from fresh grated coconut, sugar and water cooked together into a thick paste, then enriched with butter, semolina and egg yolks. The dough rests for several hours so the semolina can hydrate and the dough firms up. Small balls are shaped, pressed gently and baked low and slow until the bottoms turn golden and the tops set into pale-gold domes.
Split mung beans (the green hulled kind) soak optionally 4 hours (cuts cooking time in half but not essential). Beans simmer in water with knotted pandan leaves, sliced ginger and a pinch of salt for 35-45 minutes until soft and split. Palm sugar dissolves in; cooks another 5 minutes. To serve: ladle into bowls; pour thick warm coconut milk over the top. Optional toppings: a sprinkle of fried shallots, a spoon of toasted black sesame, or chunks of toasted sweet bread (the Surabaya street-cart way).
A three-part dessert: bright green pandan-flavoured rice flour jellies, a glossy gula melaka syrup, and a generous pour of salted coconut milk, all heaped over shaved or finely crushed ice. The contrast is the point, the sweet coconut and the smoky molasses-like syrup, the cold ice and the chewy jellies. Often served with a spoonful of sweetened red kidney beans for body.
Three sweet components are prepared separately: red beans simmered until tender then mixed with sugar, split mung beans cooked until just holding shape and lightly sweetened, and pandan-flavoured agar jelly cut into small cubes. Each layer goes into a glass with crushed ice between them and a generous drizzle of sweetened coconut cream over the top.
Sticky rice is soaked, steamed and pressed around small Asian bananas (Chuối sứ), wrapped in banana leaves and grilled until the rice forms a chewy crust. A coconut cream sauce thickened with a little cornflour and salt is spooned over the split-open bundles, and toasted peanuts and sesame finish the top. The contrast of crisp-burnt outside, soft hot banana, and cool coconut sauce is the whole point.
The crepe batter: rice flour, plain flour, eggs, coconut milk, water, salt, pandan extract, whisked smooth, rested for 30 minutes. The filling (unti): palm sugar dissolves in a little water with a pandan leaf; fresh grated coconut stirs in; cooks for 5 minutes till just absorbed and sticky. Cool. Crepes cook for 1 minute per side in a small pan. Each crepe gets a heaped tablespoon of unti at one end; folds in the sides; rolls up like a cigar. Eats at room temperature.
Chickpeas are soaked overnight, simmered until completely tender, then drained and pureed into a smooth paste. The paste is cooked over low heat with sugar, fresh coconut milk and grated coconut, stirred constantly as the mixture thickens. Ghee is added in stages; the fudge is ready when it pulls away from the sides of the pan and the ghee separates at the edges. Cardamom and a touch of rose water lift the chickpea flavour into something dessert-like. Tastes nothing like chickpeas.
A batter is made from rice flour, coconut milk and palm jaggery and stirred slowly over a low heat for over an hour. The mixture darkens and thickens through three distinct stages: pale and thin, golden and porridge-like, then deep mahogany and glossy with ghee separating at the edges. Knowing when to pull the pot is the only difficulty. Poured into a tray, cooled, and cut into squares; the texture sits between fudge and a firm jelly.
Firni is Afghanistan's set rice-flour pudding, served at Eid and at the end of long family lunches, scented with cardamom and rosewater and topped with crushed pistachios. The technique is simple but precise. Very finely ground rice flour (traditionally soaked basmati ground by hand, but shop-bought rice flour works well) whisks into cold milk to a slurry, gets stirred slowly into warming sweetened milk, and cooks until thick and creamy. Cardamom and rosewater at the end. Pour into shallow dishes (small individual ones, ideally) and chill until the surface sets to a light skin. Scatter with crushed pistachios or almonds and serve cold. Make it the day before so it has time to set properly.
A short, biscuity pastry shell, hand-rolled into discs and pinched around the edges to form a free-form cup (no tart tin needed, though a muffin tin makes it easier). Filled with desiccated coconut simmered with dark brown sugar, water, fresh ginger, nutmeg, vanilla and a touch of butter until thick and sticky. Baked until the coconut filling is set and lightly caramelised and the pastry is pale gold.
A short, slightly tender dough made with maida, ghee and milk is rolled thin and cut into rounds. Each round is filled with a warmed mixture of khoya (or thickened condensed milk), desiccated coconut, semolina, chopped nuts and cardamom. The edges are sealed with a fluted crimp and the parcels are deep-fried low and slow until pale gold. Dusted with icing sugar while warm.
A single batter is made: rice flour, tapioca starch, mung-bean starch (for the right texture), coconut milk, sugar, salt and pandan extract for fragrance and green colour. The batter divides into two bowls: one stays plain (white-cream), the other gets a strong dose of pandan extract for vivid green. A square tin lines a bamboo steamer. Layer one (green) pours in 4-5 mm thick; steam for 5-6 minutes until just set. Layer two (white) pours over; steam again. Alternate until 9 thin layers are built (or 8, or 7, odd numbers preferred). Cool fully, cut into squares with an oiled knife.
Glutinous rice flour mixes with hot pandan-tinted water to a smooth dough; rests for 10 minutes. Palm sugar chops fine. A small ball of dough flattens between palms; a teaspoon of palm sugar nestles in; the dough closes over and rolls to a smooth sphere. Boils briefly in water until they bob to the surface and feel done (about 3 minutes). Drains; rolls in salted fresh grated coconut. Eats cool.
Cornflour whisks into a small amount of cold milk to a slurry. The rest of the milk warms with cream and sugar; the slurry pours in; the mixture cooks for 4-5 minutes until thick and silky. Rosewater stirs in off the heat; the lot pours into glasses to set in the fridge. The syrup of rosewater, sugar and a touch of grenadine pours over before serving.
Ripe mango (Alphonso or Nam Dok Mai if available; any sweet ripe mango works) blends to a smooth puree with sugar and lime juice. Powdered gelatin blooms in cold milk 5 minutes. Half the milk warms to dissolve sugar; the bloomed gelatin stirs in to dissolve. The warm milk pours into the mango puree along with the cold remaining milk, evaporated milk and a splash of double cream. Whisked smooth, ladled into 6 small moulds or glasses, refrigerated for 4-6 hours until set. Served with diced fresh mango and a drizzle of evaporated milk.