Pengat Pisang (Malaysian Banana Coconut Soup) Recipe

In Malaysia, we’re blissful to achieve for a sweet chew any time of day. Quick snacks abound at roadside stalls in every cities and rural areas, and due to the abundance of native tropical fruit and palm sugar, selections often land on the sweeter facet. When there’s time to sit down down and luxuriate in an extended break all through the day, pengat—a category of Malaysian dessert soups made with coconut milk starring a starchy fruit like banana or tuber like cassava—are a favorite at residence and at roadside stalls.

The establish “pengat” is a portmanteau of the phrases “penganan,” which suggests “sweet meals devices,” and “hangat,” meaning “warmth.” By the years, “pengat” has come to notably verify with warmth, sweet soups that embrace coconut milk. “If one is conversant within the concept of ‘kuih,’ then think about pengat as kuih with gravy,” says Ahmad Najib “Nadge” Ariffin, a Malaysian cultural historian. Kuih (like onde-onde) are sweet and savory snacks with origins in Nyonya custom, and are often small enough to be eaten in a single or two bites. Throughout the case of this particular pengat, sago pearls—pleasantly chewy balls produced from the starch of the pith of palm tree stems—and banana gadgets are the kuih, swimming in a gravy of sweetened coconut milk.

Whereas pengat was initially made with leftover bananas and cassava from a harvest glut, its easy preparation and accessible flavors have helped it evolve proper right into a sought-after dessert. Proper this second, many individuals—no longer constrained by having to attend for a surplus of fruit—will buy substances notably to make pengat.

The flavour of pengat have to be whatever the star ingredient is. “If there are bananas in it, it should model like bananas,” says Nadge. “If jackfruit, then of jackfruit.” The sweetness isn’t the aim; pretty, the titular ingredient is. The recipe beneath is for a popular pengat choice made with bananas, or (“pisang” in Malay), due to this fact “pengat pisang.” For this particular recipe, many cooks, along with myself, select inexperienced bananas, as they preserve their type greater after cooking. Whenever you use riper yellow bananas with black spots, ponder reducing the sugar so the pengat isn’t too sweet.

You don’t must fuss an extreme quantity of regarding the specific variety of bananas. I developed this particular recipe with Cavendish bananas in ideas, since they’re broadly obtainable across the globe, nevertheless in case you might be in Malaysia or one different location that has fairly just a few types of bananas, be at liberty to fiddle with completely totally different varieties Choose ones which could be on the smaller, sweeter facet; my favorite to utilize in Malaysia is any good consuming banana like pisang mas or pisang rastali.

Whenever you’ve mastered the important concept of pengat, substitute or complement the banana with sweet potato, cassava, jackfruit, and even durian for further style and textural choice. With this simple, versatile recipe, likelihood is you will find yourself making pengat pisang everytime you crave one factor sweet—even when there’s no harvest glut near you.

Prepare dinner dinner Mode
(Protect show awake)