Home > Kolak Pisang (Banana and Sweet Potato in Palm Sugar and Coconut Milk Sauce)

Kolak Pisang (Banana and Sweet Potato in Palm Sugar and Coconut Milk Sauce)

Posting Date: 07/10/17

Kolak Pisang (Banana and Sweet Potato in Palm Sugar and Coconut Milk Sauce) is one of Indonesian desserts. Kolak Pisang is a variation of Kolak which has the same sauce (palm sugar and coconut milk) but kolak doesn't use banana. Instead, it has sweet potato or yam balls. The potato is mashed and made to shape like a ball. Kolak pisang is so easy to make but it is delicious. In Indonesia, special banana, called pisang tanduk is used to make it. Since it is hard to find it outside Indonesia, I use regular banana. The problem with regular banana is it becomes mushy when you cook it for a long time. Because of that, I add bananas toward the end of cooking and off the heat. Otherwise, it would be mushy and become brown or black making it look unappealing. If you use pisang tanduk and it is hard when you buy it, you may have to cook it on the heat. Bananas also become black on the center after you slice them and leave them in the air for a long time. Because of that, only slice them when you are ready to add it to the pot, i.e. when sweet potato has become soft.

The recipe serves for 4 people

Ingredients:

600 ml coconut milk
250 g palm sugar
pinch of salt or to taste
1 large sweet potato or yam, peeled and diced into bite size cubes
1 drop of pandan essence or paste or 2 pandan leaves. If you don't have pandan paste or leaves, you can skip it or you can use 1 drop of vanilla essence.
3 bananas, peeled and sliced into 1/2" thickness. Do not slice bananas until sweet potato has become soft. This is because if you slice banana and leave it in the air for a while, the center will become black.
Optional: whipped cream
Optional: freshly grated coconut. If you cannot find fresh coconut, you can use unsweetend shredded coconut.

Methods:

Combine coconut milk, palm sugar, salt, and pandan paste or pandan leaves in a pot big enough to fit sweet potato and banana so that they can be fully immersed in the coconut palm sugar liquid.
Turn on the stove to medium low heat. Using rubber spatula, stir the liquid from time to time to prevent coconut milk from separating. During this step, we need to make sure the liquid is not boiling violently because we don't want coconut milk to separate. For that reason, we don't want to use high heat. Once the liquid starts to get hot and if your palm sugar comes in a big chunk, you may want to break it off into smaller pieces with a spoon so that it can dissolve faster. Once the liquid starts to reach gentle boiling and the sugar has dissolved, add sweet potato or yam to the pot and keep stirring the liquid so that coconut milk doesn't separate. Let sweet potato cook until it is soft but not mushy. At this time, it is the right time to slice bananas. If you use regular bananas, instead of pisang tanduk, turn off the stove, remove the pot from the heat, and add banana slices to the pot. Keep stirring it and let it cook for about 1 min. If you use pisang tanduk, do not turn off the stove. Add banana slices to the pot, stir the pot, and let them cook until they become soft but not mushy. Remove the pot from the heat and turn off the stove.
You can serve it warm or cold. If you want to serve it warm, split kolak pisang into 4 bowls. Top it with freshly grated coconut or whipped cream if preferred. If you want to serve it cold, place it in a container and let kolak pisang cool down before storing it in the fridge. Once it is cold, split it into 4 bowls. Top it with freshly grated coconut or whipped cream if preferred.

Notes:

Bananas become black on the center after you slice them and leave them in the air for a long time. Because of that, only slice them when you are ready to add it to the pot, i.e. when sweet potato has become soft.
Since we use regular bananas, add bananas toward the end of cooking and off the heat. Otherwise, it would be mushy and become brown or black making it look unappealing. If you use pisang tanduk and it is hard when you buy it, you may have to cook it on the heat to soften it.

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