Kuih Dadar / Kueh Ketayap / Kuih Tayap Pandan Crepes Rolls with Sweet Coconut Filling

Whenever I eat kuih dadar, I just eat one or the most two...

And if you ask me to make more than ten kuih dadar at a go, I reckon this amount is too many for my family of three to eat.

Finally, I found a beautiful kuih dadar recipe and also an opportunity to make these kuih dadar...

Kuih dadar - Pandan crepes rolls with sweet coconut filling

Kuih Dadar, also known as Kuih / Kueh Ketayap or Tayap is sweet coconut crepes wrapped with coconut filling. These sweet Nonya treats are usually served as teatime snack at teatime and best when they were enjoyed with a thicken coconut sauce.

"Got standard!" said my husband after his first bite of these kuih dadar.

"Mum, this is yum..." said my son. He is always very appreciative.

"Buay xia suan if you bring these to our neighbour's house..." my husband continued. Buay xia suan means not shameful in Hokkien. See! My husband is very critical with me and my cooking.

I hope that I don't sound bragging here as I think that these kuih dadar are really good. In fact, I reckon that they are as good as the store bought ones particularly like the ones that I regularly buy from Bengawan Solo bakeries in Singapore... Having said that, I'm not saying that these kuih dadar are exact replicates of Bengawan Solo's as I didn't have a chance to compare my homemade ones with B. Solo's very closely. To me, both mine and B. Solo's are equally good.

To make kuih dadar crepes with the most ideal kind of moisture and texture, the ratio of eggs, liquid and flours used is critical. I have noticed that there is many recipes uses all coconut milk at here or a good ratio of other liquid and coconut milk at here and here or only pandan extract and water with no added coconut milk at here and here. Which is the best? I don't know... LOL! All I know that the ratio in this recipe has worked very well for me.

Besides, the fat or moisture content in the coconut milk used can also play an important role to yield crepes with good consistency. To ensure reproducibility, I would highly recommend using the best quality canned coconut milk or unless you can tell the fat percentage of the coconut milk that you have freshly extracted from grated coconut. Otherwise, you have to be not fussy with the consistency of crepes that you have cooked.

First, I made the gula Melaka syrup.

... and used the syrup to cook the coconut filling.

To finish, I added cornflour-water mixture to make the coconut filling for an extra gloss.

Next, I used half of the coconut milk to make the crepes to extract pandan flavours.

Then, I did this to make the crepe batter.

It is important to rest the batter before cooking!

These are the crepes that I have cooked.

Next, I gathered these ingredients to make the coconut sauce.

Instead of using coconut cream, I have used regular coconut milk and thicken it into a creamy dipping sauce.

Beautiful! I'm very impressed with this sauce...

To wrap, you can either place the filling in the middle or the bottom edge of a crepe...
Why the options? See ** in the recipe section.

... and roll into this.

All done and ready to serve.

I like making kuih dadar like this...
The filling in the middle of a crepe makes the filling evenly distributed within the crepe.

And like them even more with the creamy coconut sauce.

Here's the recipe that is mostly adapted from the book, The Best of Singapore Recipes: Everyday Favourite by Mrs Leong Yee Soo

Makes 18 if you are using a 20 cm frying pan or 22 if you are using a 16 cm frying pan

For the coconut filling:
250g gula Melaka (coconut palm sugar)
3 tbsp water
4-6 pandan leaves, washed and knotted
500g fresh or frozen grated coconut, not dessicated
10g cornflour, mixed with 2 tbsp water

Combine gula Melaka, water and pandan in small saucepan. Cook syrup in medium low heat until thick and syrupy. Add grated coconut. Transfer coconut mixture into a large saucepan or wok. Cook and stir the coconut with medium heat until fragrant or deeply infused with syrup. The coconut will look translucent and slightly darken in colour.

While the mixture is cooking with medium heat, stir in the cornflour mixture and cook for another 5-10 mins. Remove from heat and set aside to cool in room temperature.

For the crepes:

450ml coconut milk plus extra to top if required, preferably Ayam brand light one with 13% fat 

3-4 pandan leaves, washed and sniped into pieces

4 large eggs, 70-80g each

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp vegetable oil plus extra for cooking

225g all purpose flour

10g (1 tbsp) tapioca flour

green food colouring, preferably the natural one but you will need more if you are using the natural one.

Using a blender, process pandan leaves and coconut milk together until smooth. Place a muslin cloth over a large mixing bowl and pour the coconut milk mixture through the muslin cloth. Gather the edges of the cloth and squeeze the retaining liquid out from the pandan pulp. After this, wash and dry the blender.

Add eggs, salt, oil, two flours and colouring into the coconut milk mixture and pour the mixture back into a clean blender. Process until mixture is smooth and well combined. Allow mixture to rest in the fridge at least for 30 mins.

Heat a lightly greased 20cm frying pan with medium low heat. When the frying pan is hot enough, pour just enough batter to cover the pan thinly. When the edges of the crepe start to curl, flip the crepe over and continue to cook until thoroughly cooked or lightly browned*. Transfer the crepe to a plate lined with baking paper or any non-stick surface. Repeat cooking the rest of the crepes until all the batter is used up. Set aside the crepes to cool before using them to wrap the coconut filling. The crepes are little stiff when they are freshly cooked and will soften when they are completely cooled to room temperature. If you are not using the crepes to wrap the filling soon, cover them loosely with cling wrap so that they won't dry up and won't become soggy with excessive condensation.

*Whether to cook the crepes to be lightly browned or just cooked (without any browning surfaces) is really up to individual preference. My husband likes his to be lightly browned as he reckons that the browning will make the crepes more fragrant and so this is how I cooked mine.

To wrap, place 1 1/2 - 2 tbsp of coconut filling (1 1/2 tbsp for each 16 cm crepe and 2 tbsp for each 20 cm crepe) on the middle or bottom edge of each crepe. Fold the left and right of the crepe to enclose and roll. Continue to wrap the rest of the crepes.

** Placing the filling in the middle of the crepe distribute the filling evenly within the crepe. Placing the filling along the bottom edge of the crepe concentrate the filling all in the middle of the rolled kuih dadar. This is no right or wrong or good or bad in both wrapping methods as it is all about preference.

For the coconut sauce:
270g (1 can) coconut milk, preferably Ayam brand regular one with 24% fat
10g all purpose flour
10g rice flour
1/3 tsp salt
1 tsp caster sugar

Combine half of the coconut milk, both flours, salt and sugar in a small saucepan. Cook mixture with low heat until thicken and doughy-looking. Remove from heat and stir in the rest of the coconut milk. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature.

Serve with the kuih dadar.

Happy Cooking
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