Generally when you come for tea at a Malay household, chances are there will be a pengat or a bubur of somekind. While bubur can encompass most things in a gravy from sweet soups to savoury congee, pengat is exclusively sweet. Generally we use pengat for something, a fruit that's been simmered in santan (coconut milk) and gula melaka (palm sugar).
Bubur jagung or pengat jagung made from corn used to be my grandmother's favourite. Corn is healthy and naturally sweet so of course we have to make it unhealthy by adding santan and gula melaka. It's popular with the young and old alike. In fact, I don't know any kids who don't like corn. The same goes for bananas. So I'm also going to give you a simple recipe for pengat pisang.
Pengat pisang is my family's favourite. I like mine with sago in it while my sister doesn't. On certain days, they used to serve this at mosques after the Asar prayers as something for tea and during Ramadhan you can bet after terawih, there will be a bubur or pengat or two.
Bananas are abundant in Malaysia and generally I use pisang abu, they are squat, firm and a little sweet-sour so it won't turn too mushy in the gravy and stands up to the sweetness and richness of the other ingredients.
Bubur Jagung
Ingredients:
2 cups water
100g gula melaka
1 pandan leaf
200ml santan
1/2 tsp salt
1 can of whole kernal corn
1 can caramel corn
Method:
Put cold water in a pot and the palm sugar. Since palm sugar comes in blocks, break them up first so it dissolves faster. A good tip to know that the palm sugar is well cooked with the water is look out for bubbles. Initially the bubbles will be big and it will become smaller as the sugar gets cooked.
Add the pandan leaf, leave it for awhile, then pour in santan. Keep stirring at this stage as you don't want the santan to curdle and split. Make sure the fire is on low.
Now add in your corn and allow it to simmer for a further 5-10 minutes.
Results:
The consistency of your gravy should be like a thin custard. If you like it thicker, just use 1 1/2 cups of water instead of 2.
You can use 2 cans of creamed corn if you like a smoother texture. However I like to have some crunchy kernels to bite into as I slurp my bubur hence why used a can of whole kernels.
"Bubur jagung used to be my grandmother's favourite"
Pengat Pisang
Ingredients:
1 comb of bananas
2 1/2 cups water
200g gula melaka
1 daun pandan
A bit of salt
200ml santan
Method:
The method is pretty much the same as the bubur jagung. Slice your banana into half or thirds and add it in after the santan is stirred in.
Cook it until the banana softens a little, about 5 minutes or so.
Results:
The gravy here would be thicker and be more caramelised because of the natural sugars in a banana.
You can also use pisang nangka for this if you can't find pisang abu. You can also use pisang tanduk (plantains) although usually when I make a pengat with this banana, I use white sugar instead of palm sugar, it seems to go better with the tartness of this banana and add in sago. You will get a lovely white gravy, dotted with yellow and white jewels.
The best banana in my opinion is pisang raja, very sweet but harder to find. The only drawback of using this banana is that it bruises easily and it fibrous. So when you stew it, it'll turn a little black and hairy. The extra caramel flavour you get from this makes up for the aesthetics though. Generally people rather fry pisang raja in batter than make a pengat with it.
Pengat pisang bubbling away...
Chef says:
Making a pengat is really simple and we have all the great ingredients here.
Next time you are having guests for tea, cook up a batch. It's definitely faster than rustling up a cake.
All you need now to go with your pengat is a lovely cup of tea!
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