Home > Kue Serabi (Indonesian Pancakes with Coconut and Palm Sugar Syrup)

Kue Serabi (Indonesian Pancakes with Coconut and Palm Sugar Syrup)

Posting Date: 06/25/17

Kue Serabi (Indonesian Pancakes with Coconut and Palm Sugar Syrup) is normally sold by street vendors or at local markets. It is sometimes called srabi and originated from Java. It is served as snacks rather than breakfast because it is normally sold in the afternoon. It is traditionally made of rice flour and coconut milk. You can substitute rice flour with all purpose flour. It looks like pancakes but it is green on top because of the pandan leaves used and the surface is rather porous. It might be difficult to find pandan leaves in Asian stores, so you can substitute it with pandan paste. If you cannot find pandan paste in Asian store, you can use green food coloring or you can skip it altogether but the color will be yelowish rather than green. Pandan also has distinct flavor and it adds depth of flavor to serabi. Similar to pancakes, kue serabi is also served with syrup, called Kinca. The syrup is made of coconut milk and palm sugar.

In Indonesia, serabi vendors make it using serabi mold. You can use small nonstick pan less than 4" in diameter instead. The pan must have a lid. If you don't own one, you can use regular pan and place ring mold of less than 4" in diameter on the pan. The purpose is to make them in uniform size and shape. I don't own a ring mold, so I use wide mouth mason jar lid as a mold which is perfect because the diameter is about 3.25". The way serabi is cooked is to let the bubbles form on the surface. Once they have formed, the lid is placed so that it can steam and finish cooking. Because of that, you should not use high heat because it will burn the bottom.

The recipe makes about 13-15 pancakes.

Ingredients:

For the batter: 200 g rice flour. You can substitute with all purpose flour.
For the batter: 1 teaspoon yeast
For the batter: 300 ml coconut milk
For the batter: 1 large egg, beaten
For the batter: 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the batter: 3 drops pandan paste. You can substitute it with green food coloring if you cannot find it in Asian stores or you can skip it altogether but this will make the color yelowish instead of green.
For the syrup: 200 ml coconut milk
For the syrup: 100 g palm sugar
For the syrup: 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the syrup: Optional: 1 pandan leaf. I cannot find pandan leaf in the store. So, I skip it. You can use pandan paste but it will make the sauce green. Traditionally the sauce is brown in color.
For the syrup: Optional: sugar to taste if it is not sweet enough for you. I found palm sugar is enough to sweeten the sauce.
vegetable oil to brush off pan and mold if used
Tool needed: small nonstick pan with a diameter of 4" or less. The pan must have a lid. If you don't own a small nonstick pan, you can use ring mold and regular size nonstick pan with a lid. I don't own small nonstick pan and ring mold, so I use wide mouth mason jar lid as a mold which is perfect because the diameter is about 3.25". The purpose of small pan or a mold to shape serabi, so that it is round and has uniform size.

Methods:

Combine rice flour, yeast, coconut milk, beaten egg, and salt in a bowl. Whisk it until smooth and there is no lump. Add pandan paste and whisk it again until the color becomes uniformly green. Leave it for 40 min.
While waiting for the batter mixture to rest, combine coconut milk, palm sugar, salt, and pandan leave, if used, in a small pot. Turn on the stove to low heat. Place the pot on the stove. Using rubber spatula, stir the syrup from time to time to make sure palm sugar can dissolve. Once palm sugar has softened a little, you may need to use spoon to break off palm sugar so that it dissolves faster. Once palm sugar has dissolved, taste it and add sugar if needed. Make sure you don't let coconut milk to boil during cooking. Stir the syrup once more time before turning off the stove. Remove from the heat and discard pandan leave. Let the syrup cool down.
To make serabi pancake, you will need a small nonstick pan, about 4" or less in diameter, with a lid. If you don't own a small nonstick pan, you can use ring mold. I don't own both, so I use the wide mouth mason jar lid as a mold. It has a diameter of 3.25" which is perfect for this purpose. The purpose of small pan or a mold to shape serabi, so that it is round and has uniform size.
After 40 min, you should see the batter mixture becomes frothy because of the yeast. Turn on the stove to medium heat. Do not use high heat since it will burn the bottom of pancakes during cooking.
Brush off the pan and mold with vegetable oil. Place the mold on the pan. Scoop about 2 tablespoons of batter mixture and drop it inside the mold. Make sure it covers the entire surface of the mold. If it doesn't cover the surface, drop more batter. Once the surface of serabi has formed bubbles on top and the surface has changed color uniformly, i.e. the surface becomes lighter color and slightly drier, place the lid on top of the pan. Leave the lid for about 3 min until it sets. Remove serabi pancake from the pan and set it on cooling rack. Repeat this step until all batter mixture has been used. Turn off the stove.
To serve it, spoon the syrup on a plate and place several serabi pancakes on a plate. You may drizzle more syrup on top of pancakes.

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