Kue putu
Kue putu are Indonesian rice cakes steamed in bamboo tubes, famous for the whistling steam of the street carts that sell them every evening. Damp rice flour is loosely packed around a palm sugar filling, steamed very quickly and then rolled in grated coconut, so the cakes are crumbly-soft, fragrant with pandan and gently sweet.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Rising or chilling
- 15 min
- Total time
- 1 hr 10 min
- Method
- Steamed
Ingredients
Pandan rice flour
Palm sugar filling
Coconut topping
Instructions
Step 1
Mix 100 g freshly grated coconut with a pinch of salt, then steam it for about eight minutes. The touch of salt brings out the sweetness of the palm sugar, and steaming helps the coconut keep longer. The coconut is ready when the shreds are soft, warm, moist and smell rich and nutty.
Step 2
Sprinkle a pinch of salt over 200 g rice flour, gradually drizzle in 110 g pandan juice and rub the flour between your fingertips into small crumbs, then let it sit for about fifteen minutes. Don't knead it into a dough; it only needs to be evenly damp so it stays crumbly after steaming. The flour is ready when it clumps together when squeezed in your hand but falls apart at a light touch.
Step 3
Rub the damp flour through a coarse sieve to get fine, even crumbs. Even crumbs let the steam pass through easily so the cakes cook in a short time. The flour is ready when it looks like damp sand with no large lumps.
Step 4
Spoon a layer of the crumbs into a bamboo tube or small mold, sprinkle a little grated 80 g palm sugar in the middle, then top up with more crumbs, pressing only very lightly. Packing too firmly makes the cakes hard and keeps the steam from getting through. The molds are ready when the crumbs are level with the rim and the surface is still loose and airy.
Step 5
Set the molds in the steamer once the water is at a rolling boil and steam for about eight minutes. The hot steam cooks the flour very quickly while melting the palm sugar inside. The cakes are done when they turn a deeper green, look slightly translucent and give off a strong pandan aroma.
Step 6
Use a small stick to push the cakes out of the molds, set them on a banana leaf or plate, sprinkle with the steamed coconut and eat right away. Only while hot will the sugar filling still be runny when you bite in. They're finished when they hold their cylinder shape, are covered in white coconut and reveal thick brown syrup inside when broken open.
Equipment
- Steamer
- Shaping molds
- Sieve
- Mixing bowl
- Kitchen scale
- Blender
Tips
- If you don't have bamboo tubes, you can use small steamed-cupcake molds or small stainless steel cups; a steam hole in the bottom is even better.
- You can lightly toast the rice flour in a pan for a few minutes before moistening it to make the cakes more fragrant and crumbly.
- Choose dark, soft palm sugar, as it melts quickly during steaming.
Storage
Kue putu are best eaten as soon as they're steamed. If you have leftovers, cover them and keep them at room temperature for no more than half a day, then steam them again for about three minutes to soften.
Common problems and how to fix them
- The cakes crumble apart when taken out of the molds.
- The flour was too dry to hold together. Add a little more pandan juice and squeeze-test again until the flour clumps in your hand.
- The cakes are hard and dense like a lump of dough.
- The flour was too wet or packed too firmly into the molds. Keep the flour as loose crumbs and press only lightly when filling the molds.
This recipe is based on the common ratios for this bake and is written entirely in our own words.
