Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Indonesian Cakes, China Town

I was actually in the mood for some durian after the hotpot at Xiao Ping so I went to the Smith St area where there were some stalls selling durian previously. Unfortunately, I did not see any durian vendors that night (the season is probably over?) but I did see something interesting. Indonesian cakes? I think (partly) not only out of the bemusement of eating Indonesian cakes in China Town but also because of the fragrant aroma coming from the steamed cakes, I decided to order a bit of each variety offered.

Ok, I'm not sure about the names of these cakes. The little yellow round ball at the top right is ondeh-ondeh and it's done really well here, the soft and tender skin gave way on first attack to reveal the sweet brown sugar gravy within. The brown thing in the middle is some sticky cake that tasted like it was based on brown sugar, the green thing besides it had a strong coconut and pandan flavor which I didn't mind because I love coconut. Last but not least the orange-brownish cupcake looking thingy tasted like a steamed sponge cake. The generous scatter of shredded coconut added that nice extra touch of fragrance. Funny how I could not help but think that the round ondeh-ondeh surrounded by shredded coconut reminded me of one of those hairy muppets from Sesame St or the Muppets Show haha.

The Indonesian bamboo cakes tasted exceptionally good because they're made fresh on the spot. This stuff is like cylindrical kueh tutu but the flour around it is a lot fluffier and less dense. A good toss of shredded coconut and coconut sugar ensured that this dessert went down well. And it went down very well indeed.

D

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE kueh tutu. Used to ask for it when I was young and my mom would buy it for me for supper. When I was older I started going to buy it myself. There is a really good one near Haig Rd market at a kopitiam (sigh, again near my old house). Really miss it now. I've seen this cylindrical kueh tuto at Smith Street before. Now I want it!zthvdggv

D said...

cindy: haha, I love the "zthvdggv" part at the end, was that the word verification or just a loss of control due to the food craving? Whenever I think of random buttons rapidly pressed on the keyboard, it reminds me of that chat scene in the film "Closer" haha.