By Lisa Yip
Kuih Dadar (coconut-filled crepes) is traditionally served as green “spring-rolls’ encasing gula-melaka coconut filling. This confection gets a blue and white theme using butterfly pea flowers. The result? An Instagrammable dessert that tastes as good as it looks!
Total Time: 2½ hours
Cost: S$3.00
Difficulty: 3/5
Servings: 14 pieces
A: Coconut Filling
250g grated coconut, white part only
80g castor sugar
70ml water
2 pandan leaves, knotted
½ teaspoon salt
40ml butterfly pea concentrate
B: Crepe Batter
300g plain flour
1 tablespoon tapioca flour
550ml plain water
100ml fresh milk*
2 eggs, lightly beaten
¼ teaspoon salt
50ml butterfly pea concentrate
1 teaspoon cooking oil
C. Butterfly Pea Concentrate
100 pieces fresh butterfly pea flowers, green stalks removed
2-3 pandan leaves, knotted
200ml water
DIRECTIONS:
1.Butterfly pea concentrate: In a small saucepan, combine C ingredients. Boil over low heat for at least 15 minutes or until water has reduced to less than half. Using a sieve, strain to get liquid – it yields 90ml. Discard flowers.
2. Coconut filling: In a second saucepan, combine A ingredients except coconut, butterfly pea concentrate and oil. Boil over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Discard pandan leaves.
3. Add grated coconut. Using a spatula, cook for 5 minutes or until it starts to turn slightly dry. Remove half of coconut mixture. Set it aside. This is the white coconut filling.
4. Pour butterfly pea concentrate over remaining coconut mixture in the saucepan. Using a spatula, stir continually and cook for another 2 minutes.
This is the blue-coloured coconut filling.
5. Crepe Batter: In a mixing bowl, combine B ingredients except egg. Mix well, then pour in beaten egg.
Using a whisk, mix until it becomes a smooth batter. Strain batter with a sieve to remove any lumps. Divide it into 2 equal batches.
6. Keep 1 batch of batter as it is. Let it rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
7. For the second batch, mix in butterfly pea concentrate. Using a whisk, mix until well combined. Similarly, let it rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
8. Making Crepes: Heat up a non-stick saucepan over low heat. Lightly grease it with a thin film of cooking oil. Using a ladle (65ml capacity), pour 1 scoop of plain batter gently into the centre of the saucepan. Holding the handle, slowly swirl pan until batter spreads out evenly, coating base of pan to form a thin crepe. Cook one side of crepe only. When it’s cooked, transfer onto a clean plate.
9. Before making 2nd and subsequent crepes, stir batter with ladle – this ensures batter is evenly mixed before cooking. Repeat until all the batter is used up – you should get 7 plain crepes. To prevent cooked crepes from drying up, cover with a moist tea towel.
10. For blue-coloured batter, do the same to get 7 crepes.
11. To assemble blue crepes, scoop 2 tablespoons of white coconut filling onto crepe. Wrap it up like spring rolls. Repeat until all rolls are completed.
12. For plain crepes, use blue-tainted coconut filling.
13. Stack crepes onto a flat woven basket, alternating blue with white.
*NOTE: Fresh milk is a healthier option. It may be substituted with coconut milk if preferred.
TIP: Tapioca flour helps crepes to remain soft even after they’ve cooled down.
TECHNIQUE: Resting crepe batter is a critical step before cooking. It yields thinner, even crepes with a tender texture. Also, cooked crepes don’t stick together when stacked. The process of whisking while making the batter causes protein molecules to stretch. As a result, gluten develops – this makes crepes chewy, hence the need to rest the batter.
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