Pengat Pisang (Malaysian Banana Coconut Soup) Recipe

In Malaysia, we’re snug to realize for a sweet chunk any time of day. Quick snacks abound at roadside stalls in every cities and rural areas, and on account of abundance of native tropical fruit and palm sugar, decisions normally land on the sweeter facet. When there’s time to sit down down and experience 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 home and at roadside stalls.

The title “pengat” is a portmanteau of the phrases “penganan,” which suggests “sweet meals devices,” and “hangat,” which suggests “warmth.” Over time, “pengat” has come to notably seek the advice of with warmth, sweet soups that comprise coconut milk. “If one is accustomed to the concept of ‘kuih,’ then contemplate 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 normally small enough to be eaten in a single or two bites. Inside 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 simple preparation and accessible flavors have helped it evolve proper right into a sought-after dessert. As we communicate, many people—no longer constrained by having to attend for a surplus of fruit—will buy parts notably to make pengat.

The flavour of pengat should be whatever the star ingredient is. “If there are bananas in it, it should type like bananas,” says Nadge. “If jackfruit, then of jackfruit.” The sweetness isn’t the aim; considerably, the titular ingredient is. The recipe beneath is for a most well-liked pengat choice made with bananas, or (“pisang” in Malay), subsequently “pengat pisang.” For this particular recipe, many cooks, along with myself, want inexperienced bananas, as they keep their kind increased after cooking. Within the occasion you utilize riper yellow bananas with black spots, ponder decreasing the sugar so the pengat isn’t too sweet.

You don’t need to fuss an extreme quantity of regarding the specific variety of bananas. I developed this particular recipe with Cavendish bananas in ideas, since they’re extensively obtainable across the globe, nonetheless should you’re in Malaysia or one different location that has fairly a couple of kinds of bananas, be comfortable to fiddle with completely completely different varieties Choose ones which may be on the smaller, sweeter facet; my favorite to utilize in Malaysia is any good consuming banana like pisang mas or pisang rastali.

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

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