Saturday, October 28, 2006

Junk food of the week: Flying saucers


I forget what these are called in Indonesian because I always think of them as flying saucers or little hats. You don't need to remember their name anyway, because they're always sold from a cart, and the cart doesn't offer anything else. The vendor makes them on the spot using a rounded pan over a little gas burner.

These are very tasty. The outside edge is thin and crunchy-chewy. The bump in the middle is soft and moist, similar to that famed biological curiosity, Bika Ambon. This particular one has chocolate sprinkles on it. I think there's some coconut milk involved, and there's definitely some pandan leaf, the most common dessert flavoring here. I can't really describe pandan except to say that it's not very much like vanilla. It's mellow like vanilla, but it tastes more plant-y. Does that help? I didn't think so.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is it kue apem ?

Unknown said...

can't remember what it's called either. funny that you have them things, well being in Pejompongan probably. not much of any of the traditional food around my part...

good fun tho, the bowel adventures.

Anonymous said...

my friends and I call it kue tetek ;) dont know the official name

Trish said...

Heh, I think even non-Indonesian speakers will know what tetek means ...

Not sure about kue apem. I'll have to remember to look at the cart next time. And, yes, we don't have them very often in Pejompongan, but every now and then an old guy turns up. Sometimes they sell them near the Post, too. The only place I know to get them all the time is Jl. Sabang, near Jaksa.

Anonymous said...

back then, they used to sell it all the time around pasar baru.

have you tried martabak manis in jl sabang? the one with cheese, peanuts, chocolates and tons of cholesterol :D

btw, should you try kue rangin, could you put the picture up? thx

Trish said...

Never heard of kue rangin, but next time I'm in Jalan Sabang I'll look around.

One of these days we'll have to get up early for the cake market, too ... I've heard it's pretty great.

Anonymous said...

It's called kue ape. Its main ingredients are flour, rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, vanilla essence, and baking soda.

Anonymous said...

I'd call it kue topi (topi = hat). When I was still a student at St. Ursula High School, we could get those cakes from street vendors across Sungai Ciliwung in Pasar Baru. I miss all those food vendors!