Friday, June 01, 2007

Sago Pudding with Gula Jawa Syrup and Coconut Cream


I have been clearing out old magazines, and ones that are hardest for me to part with are cooking magazines. So I have been clipping out recipes from them, and trying it on the family every so often. This is one of the recipes I tried.

I have made sago in the past for the family, and had not so favorable response from the kids. So I thought I'd try it again this time with the coconut cream. It turned out great (for me), but I still couldn't get the little ones to go for a second bite. They called it 'bubble cake'. For them, anything that's sweet is called cake or cookie. So I chilled it in the fridge and had all four servings over two days. LOL! Maybe they will like it after the tenth try? After this, it would be awhile before I make sago pudding again.

Sago Pudding with Gula Jawa Syrup and Coconut Cream
6 1/2 c water
1 cup pear sago
1 pandan leaf (I used frozen)
1/2 c grated Gula Jawa
1 14-oz can coconut milk

For pudding:
Boil 6 cups water in a large pot. Add sago slowly to the boiling water, while stirring constantly. Boil gently for 5 mins, stirring often.

Turn off heat, cover pot for 15-20 mins., or until sago is cooked and translucent.

Add about 3 cups of cold water to sago, stir to get rid of excess starch, and drain on a sieve. Place sago into a large bowl, add cold water, stir and rinse again. Repeat for another 2 more times. Drain sago and divide into 4 glass ramekins and chill till set, about 10 mins.

Gula Jawa Syrup:
Tie thawed pandan leave into a knot. Simmer pandan with gula jawa and 1/2 cup water in small saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves and mixture is thickened, about 5 mins. Remove and discard pandan leaf, and pour syrup through fine sieve into a small bowl. Cool to room temperature and chill in the fridge.

Coconut cream:
Do not shake the can of coconut milk. Open the can, and scoop out the thick layer of cream from the top, reserving the thin liquid . Wish a cup of coconut cream until smooth, and add 1 tbs of coconut liquid if necessary to get a pourable consistency. Pour some of the syrup over sago and top with some coconut cream.

Recipe adapted from Gourmet magazine.

Note: In the second picture above, I added the coconut cream first, and then the Gula Jawa Syrup. It looked better the other way round as in the first picture. Both ways tasted sooo good with the palm sugar syrup (gula jawa) and the coconut cream.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi V,
I've been meaning to try this dish for a while but never got around to it because there's no one to help me finish it. Your sago looks perfectly done. I think that is the hardest thing to get right.

East Meets West Kitchen said...

Hi J,
Yes, I have the same problem here. Now I'm OD on sago. LOL!
Thanks for your compliment. This recipe actually helps to ensure that the sago is fully cooked and removes excess starch.