About this recipe
Kuih penyaram is a much-loved traditional Bruneian sweet: a deep-fried cake of rice flour and palm sugar with a thick, dense, chewy centre and thin, lacy, crisp edges that frill out as the batter spreads in the hot oil, giving it a shape often likened to a hat. It is sweet, faintly caramelised from the palm sugar, and satisfyingly chewy, and it is eaten as a snack and at gatherings. Versions of the same fried palm-sugar-and-rice-flour sweet are found across Borneo — in Sabah and Sarawak — and among Muslim communities in the southern Philippines, where related sweets go by their own names; this book presents the Bruneian penyaram and logs the shared regional lineage for verification. Getting the frilled edge takes a little practice with the oil temperature and the pour.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- About 12 cakes
- Prep
- 20 minutes (plus resting)
- Cook
- 30 minutes
- Total
- 50 minutes
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Spice
- None
Allergens Contains rice flour and palm sugar; some versions add a little wheat flour (gluten) and coconut milk. Naturally free of animal products if made without any, i.e. usually vegan/vegetarian. Check the flour for gluten if needed. See the halal-status field.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
The batter
- 1 1/2 cups (190 g) rice flour
- 2 tbsp (16 g) wheat flour (optional, for a slightly crisper edge)
- 3/4 cup (150 g) palm sugar (gula melaka / gula apong), chopped
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) water
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) coconut milk (optional, for richness)
- 1/4 tsp (1.5 g) salt
For frying
- Oil, for shallow-deep frying (enough for about 1 in / 2.5 cm depth)
Equipment
- Mixing bowl and whisk
- Small ladle or spoon for portioning the batter
- Deep or wide frying pan for shallow-deep frying
- Slotted spoon and a rack for draining
Method
- Melt the palm sugar with the 3/4 cup water in a small pan over low heat until dissolved, then strain and cool.
- Whisk the rice flour, optional wheat flour and salt in a bowl. Gradually whisk in the cooled palm-sugar syrup and the optional coconut milk to a smooth, lump-free, pourable batter. Rest it 30 minutes.
- Heat about 1 in (2.5 cm) of oil in a wide pan over medium heat until a drop of batter sizzles gently and rises.
- Pour a small ladle of batter into the oil in one spot; it will sink, then rise and spread, the centre staying thick while the edges thin and frill. Spoon a little hot oil over the top as it cooks.
- Fry until the edges are lacy, crisp and deep golden and the centre is set but still chewy, 3 to 5 minutes, turning once if needed for even colour.
- Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on a rack. Repeat with the remaining batter, adjusting the heat so the cakes colour without burning.
- Cool a little before eating; the edges crisp further as they cool while the centre stays chewy.
The Complete Edition
Kuih Penyaram sits in the Brunei chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Brunei chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.