Crepes...the Malay way

I have not made this for the longest time, in fact i have only made it once in my entire lifetime so far, well twice now!  And that first experience was in my Home Science class during my secondary school days.  Those days girls were made to learn cooking and sewing while the boys learn stuff like carpentry except for urban schools where they had a third option to study Accounting.  Thank God they have revised the syllabus and now everyone learns a little bit of everything, no longer gender bias!  Those classes were fun though! There was always a lot of excitement on days that we get to cook.   I remember the boys crowding around us to share the goodies that we made (provided we didn't ruin it) :)

This is the traditional Malay crepe known as Kuih Ketayap.  Kuih is what we call small, dainty cakes in the local language while Ketayap literally translates to skullcap.  I am guessing that its green colour and texture bear resemblance to the skullcap worn by Muslim men in those days. Filled with shredded coconut cooked in palm sugar it is a perfect match for the Pandan infused crepe. 

Malay crepes have a more rustic appeal to them with a holey and rugged  surface.  They are thicker too.  These days it is not uncommon to see what I would call a Westernized looking Malay crepe which comes with  a smooth and silky surface.  But, i still prefer it in its rustic look.  

They are commonly found in Malay food stalls.  In the mornings you will easily find them in stalls selling breakfast items or at those selling snacks for tea time in the evenings.  So easily available that there is never a need to make them! Why did i make them then??   

I wanted to make something for breakfast and preferably with Pandan in it to link up with Little Thumbs Up event for this month.   Lots of kuihs come to mind when we think Pandan but this is one of the simplest and fastest kuih to make otherwise it wouldnt be one of the very first items taught in school! So, why not i thought, since it has been decades ago...

The trick for doing this is you have to be really fast when you swirl the batter in the pan otherwise you won't get a nice flat round piece of crepe.  And the pan has to be hot to get the holes and indentations.

I prefer my crepes to have just a mild shade of green.

A cross-section of it.  I made the crepe slightly thinner and went easy on the palm sugar hence a filling that is lighter in color but sweet enough.

Recipe
Source : Baking Diary who adapted from Rasa Malaysia

Ingredients for Crepe

• 120g flour
• 1 egg
• 300ml coconut milk (200ml coconut milk from a carton and added 100ml water)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoon pandan juice (I used 3 tablespoon of homemade pandan extract.  See note below) 

Ingredients for Filling

• 90g Gula Melaka (I used around 80g)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 pandan leaf knotted
• 50ml water
• 1/2 grated coconut - use only the white part
• 1 tsp corn starch (omitted)

Method

1. Place flour in a mixing bowl.  Make a well in the centre and crack in the egg.  Slowly stir in salt and coconut milk and 3 tablespoons of pandan juice. Strain the batter for a lump free mixture. Set aside.
2. Break up palm sugar and place in a pot, add sugar, water and pandan leave.  Cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves then add the shredded coconut to the pot. Stir to combine all ingredients.
3. Heat up a shallow, lightly greased frying pan over low heat.  Add 2 tablespoons of batter in the centre and swirl the pan to coat it to form a thin crepe.   Cook a few minutes on each side and transfer to a chopping board to cool.  You can stack them up.
4. When all the crepes are cooked, place filling on a piece of crepe and roll it up as you would a spring roll.

Note on how to get Pandan Extract

Blend 5 blades of pandan leaves with enough water for the blender to work.  Pour juice over a strainer leave it in fridge overnight.  The sediment at the bottom is the pandan extract.  You will not be able to get 3 tbsp of sediment with just 5 blades of pandan.  I used whatever i got and top it with the juice.

Thank you for the recipe, Jeannie!

I am submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up "Pandan" event hosted by Joceline @ Butter, Flour & Me, organized by Zoe@ Bake for Happy Kids and Mui Mui @My little favourites DIY