Kue Dadar, green pancakes, or otherwise known as coconut crepes, are vibrant, tasty treats.
What makes these bright pancakes so vibrant green? 
Pandan is the key ingredient. Daun Pandan, or screwpine pandanus leaves come from trees with spiral blade leaves. The leaves are used in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, 
Singapore, and Thailand to flavor food (as one would use a bay leaf) as well as for the vibrant green color.
In Sri Lanka, the leaves are used to suppress smell, as when cooking meats, whereas in Indonesia it is used more as a flavoring. Our Sri Lankan colleague was surprised to hear of its use in cooking for taste.
Consequently in Sri Lanka, it is known as ‘rampa’, or in the southern region, ‘rampe’. Why a difference in spelling? Tamil is spoken in the north of Sri Lanka, with nouns often ending in “a”. This is one of the ancient languages of the world with a 2200 year history, while southern Sri Lanka is Sinhalese speaking, nouns often ending in “e” as in rampe.
Another interesting use for Daun Pandan is to keep the leaves overnight in a vehicle to rid a car of cockroaches, no kidding. Apparently, they cannot stand the smell, interesting tidbits that one learns on the internet.
The vibrant green pancakes all stuffed with coconut flake, pictured here are courtesy of our Dutch friend, whom introduced us to a world of Indonesian cooking.
Interestingly enough, we met him in Norway, while he was visiting an Italian friend, which he had lived with in Iceland, in true Deco Belle fashion, it’s a small but beautiful world!
Besides colorful food, Indonesia brings us a wonderful array of Ocean shell jewelry. Some of our Oceania finds are from this region, take a look at our Oceania section to see more.
Labels: culture, travel
by: Deco Belle Inc.
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