Kuih Dadar (Coconut Crepe/pan cake)

Mutta Kuzhalappam /Madaku saan / Love letter/Pola/ Tehra-ada is the name of coconut pan cakes or crepes one of the breakfast dishes from my home state Kerala. So when I heard  Apu of Annarasa hosting A.W.E.D (created by fellow blogger DK) event about Malaysian cuisine, I looked at several Malaysian dishes on the web, as I need something easy and tasty and a vegetarian one. My search ended with Kuih Dadar (Coconut Pancake) recipe. This dish in addition to being vegetarian (with egg) also had sweetness to it. Kuih means “cake ‘’in Malay, which is made with flour, egg, coconut milk, pandan leaves and coconut filling.

Interestingly I found that it is very similar to a dish we make in Kerala, the difference being the use of pandan leaves for green coloring and flavor as well as palm sugar for the filling. Instead of palm sugar the Indian dish uses sugar/Jaggery. My first attempt at making Kuih Dadar with some of my changes turned to be really tasty and yummy. I took the recipe and gave my twist to it.

1. Sift the flour with salt and add coconut milk, egg, water, pandan juice (if available) or pandan essence and whisk together with a whisk to form a uniform batter. Then add ½ tablespoon of oil and keep the batter aside for 20 minutes.

2. In the mean time heat ¼ cup of water in pan and add palm sugar and pandan leaf (if available).

3. Once the palm sugar becomes slightly thick add grated coconut, rice flakes and cook until everything become incorporated well and all the water content evaporates and becomes a single mass.

4. Heat a non stick pan and when the pan is hot and sizzling when you flash with water, brush with little oil and pour the batter in center and swirl it in a circular motion. I used Dosa griddle so I didn’t do circular motion but spread with back of ladle towards the rim of griddle. Once the bottom side is cooked turn and let cook the other side also. Continue this until you finish the entire batter.

5. Place 2 tablespoon of coconut filling in the middle of pancake or crepe and first fold from side and again fold from opposite direction, just like a wrap to  cover the entire fillings.

6. Eat when it is hot.

Swathi