Kue Jongkong in Cups (Pandan Coconut Rice Pudding)
Kue Jongkong in Cups is a savory soft pandan coconut rice pudding served with sweet caramelized palm sugar syrup. This sweet and salty dessert recipe will surely hit all your tastebuds.
Kue Jongkong is light, creamy, and rich pandan coconut rice pudding with a soft and wobbly texture. It is gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan pudding you can easily make over a stovetop. Serve this dessert in individual cups or wrapped in banana leaves.
What is Kue Jongkong?
Kue Jongkong is a traditional Indonesian dessert from North Sumatra. It is basically a pandan coconut rice pudding dessert made from a mixture of rice flour and tapioca flour and drizzled with palm sugar syrup.
“Kue” literally means cake, while “jongkong” means boat. This cake is named so because it is wrapped in a little pouch made from banana leaves, which resembles the shape of a boat.
Nowadays, kue jongkong wrapped in banana leaves is getting harder to find in traditional markets. Individual cups are used instead of banana leaves for convenience. Palm sugar syrup is on the bottom layer or served separately. Then, followed with pandan rice pudding in the middle layer and coconut rice pudding on top.
Components
There are actually many versions of Kue Jongkong, but the dessert usually consists of three components:
- Pandan dough. The green dough is mainly made from a mixture of rice flour, tapioca starch, coconut milk, and pandan juice. The mixture is then cooked on low heat until it thickens. It does not have much taste, but it has a subtle sweet and earthy flavor and aroma from the pandan.
- Coconut milk dough. The white dough is made from a mixture of rice flour, tapioca starch, and coconut milk. Just like the pandan dough, it is cooked on low heat until it thickens. It tastes rich, salty, and savory.
- Palm sugar syrup. Sweet caramel-like syrup with smoky and butterscotch notes. This is where the flavor mainly comes from and it will bind all the components together.
The components are not meant to be eaten individually, but they should be eaten altogether.
How to Make Kue Jongkong in Cups
- In a pan, cook palm sugar, water, and pandan leaf until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture boils. Set aside.
- Make pandan dough. In a medium pan, combine rice flour, tapioca starch, sugar, salt, pandan juice, and coconut milk. Cook with low heat until the mixture thickens and is smooth.
- Pour the palm sugar syrup into serving glasses, followed by hot pandan dough.
- Make coconut milk dough. In a medium pan, combine rice flour, tapioca starch, sugar, salt, coconut milk, and knotted pandan leaves. Cook with low heat until the mixture thickens and is smooth.
- Pour hot coconut dough over the pandan dough.
- Cool completely before serving or chill in the refrigerator to set. The components are not meant to be eaten individually, but they should be eaten altogether.
Kue Jongkong in Cups
Ingredients
Pandan Dough
- 12 pandan leaves
- 1 cup water, 240 ml
- 1/2 cup rice flour, 75 gr
- 2 tbsp tapioca starch, 15 gr
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 1/3 cups coconut milk, 560 ml
Coconut Milk Dough
- 1/2 cup rice flour, 75 gr
- 3 tbsp tapioca starch, 22 gr
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 3 1/3 cups coconut milk, 800 ml
- 2 pandan leaves, knotted
Palm Sugar Syrup
- 1 1/4 cups tightly-packed shaved palm sugar block, 250 gr
- 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp water, 75 ml
- 1 pandan leaf, cut into 2-inches/5 cm
Instructions
Palm Sugar Syrup
- Make palm sugar syrup – In a small pan, add palm sugar, water, and pandan leaf. Heat on low heat while stirring constantly. Cook until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture boils.
- Divide and pour the palm sugar syrup into serving glasses
Pandan Dough
- Make pandan juice – Use scissors to cut pandan leaves into 1-2 inch pieces in a blender or food processor. Add water and blend until the leaves are fully pulverized. Use a strainer or cheesecloth to strain the pandan juice.
- Make batter – In a medium pan, sift in rice flour and tapioca starch. Add granulated sugar, salt, and pandan juice. Mix until smooth with no lump with a spatula. Add coconut milk and stir to combine.
- Cook batter into dough – Heat on low heat and stir constantly. Cook until the mixture thickens and is smooth. Turn off the heat.
- Divide and pour the hot pandan dough over the palm sugar syrup.
Coconut Milk Dough
- Make batter – In a medium pan, sift in rice flour and tapioca starch. Add salt and granulated sugar. Pour a little bit of coconut milk and mix with a spatula until smooth with no lump. Then, add the remaining coconut milk and stir to combine.
- Cook batter into dough – Heat on low heat and stir constantly. Cook until the mixture thickens and is smooth. Turn off the heat.
- Divide and pour the hot coconut milk dough over the pandan dough.
- Cool completely before serving. Best served at room temperature or chilled.
