Umami Cooking

Meaty with a dash of veggies

Pandan crepes with coconut and palm sugar filling

A Southeast Asian street food, it's dudur gulong in Indonesia, kuih dadar in Singapore, and kuih gulung in Malaysia and Brunei. The crepes are made with coconut milk and fresh pandan extract; the filling is a mixture of melted palm sugar and freshly grated coconut.

Pandan crepes with coconut and palm sugar filling (dadar gulong / kuih dadar)

Sweets recipe

Cook’s notes

Pandan is to Southeast Asia what vanilla is to the Western world. These are filled crepes much like Western-style crepes and you cook them the same way too. But the flavor and aroma of crepes made with pandan extract and filled with grated coconut sweetened with palm sugar will give your nose and taste buds an entirely new experience. They are delicious!
A few tips about the three major ingredients.

Palm sugar

Palm sugar can be made from any variety of palm tree including coconut (coconut is a variety of palm but, in consumer terms, palm sugar and coconut sugar are not synonymous).
Palm sugar is sold in cakes. Depending on the palm variety from which it was made, palm sugar cake may be beige, golden brown or dark brown.

Pandan extract

You need pandan extract to make the crepes. And that’s not just for color but for the incomparable sweet aroma that only pandan can provide.
It might be tempting to use pandan extract to cut down on the preparation but, if you want the natural flavor and color of pandan, and if you want to get the feel of making this snack the authentic way, there’s nothing like grinding pandan leaves to get the bright green aromatic water.
See: How to make pandan water / extract

Grated coconut

You’ll need the grated meat of a mature coconut for the filling. In the Philippines, we call it niyog. 
See: A guide to coconuts for eating, drinking and cooking

Pandan crepes with coconut and palm sugar filling

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Total: 30 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Course: Snack
Cuisine: Indonesian, Malaysian, Singaporean
Label: Cooked with coconut
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Ingredients

Filling

  • ½ cup chopped palm sugar
  • 1½ cups freshly grated mature coconut
  • 1 pinch salt

Crepes

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 pinch salt
  • ¼ cup fresh pandan extract
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • palm oil for brushing the pan

Garnish

  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

Make the filling

  1. Place the chopped palm sugar in a thick-bottomed pan and add a tablespoon of water. Melt over medium-low heat until fully dissolved.
    Melting palm sugar
  2. Stir in the grated coconut and salt. Continue cooking, stirring often, for a minute or two or until quite dry.
    Stirring grated coconut into melted palm sugar
  3. Cool the filling.

Make the crepes

  1. In a bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.
  2. Pour in the pandan extract and coconut milk to make a thin batter. Stir until smooth.
  3. Heat a crepe pan (or an ordinary frying pan) and brush lightly with oil.
  4. Pour about a quarter cup of the crepe batter and swirl the pan to make the batter spread thinly.
    Pandan crepe
  5. Cook the crepe just until set. Flip and cook for a few seconds longer.
  6. Repeat until all the batter has been used.

Assemble the coconut pandan crepes

  1. Lay a crepe flat on a plate.
    Assembling pandan crepes with palm sugar and coconut filling
  2. Place a heaping tablespoon of the filling across the center.
  3. Fold in the two sides then fold in the side nearest you. Roll the crepe outward to completely seal the filling.
  4. Repeat until all the crepes have been filled or until you run out of filling.
  5. Sprinkle the coconut pandan crepes with toasted sesame seeds before serving.
    Pandan crepes with coconut and palm sugar filling (dadar gulong / kuih dadar)
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Meaty with a dash of veggies