Indonesia – Padamaran Cake

by Fauzan Anandika

Traveling to the wild can bring fresh and positive thought after our daily routine. You can release all your stress and increase your healthy immune. Mountain hiking is one of the best nature traveling activity. During the hiking, you will feel the fresh air, amazing panoramic, and of course, make your body fit. You can go to the nearest mountain, or take a long trip to explore the natural beauty in other countries to do hiking activities.

Becoming a part of the ring of fire makes Indonesia rich with the active volcanic mountain. The highest active volcano in Indonesia is Mount Kerinci that located in Jambi province. Mount Kerinci has 3.805 meters above sea level. With this high, it has 5 to 10-degree Celsius temperature at the top when dry season. It’s quite cold for a tropical country. Mount Kerinci also become a tropical rainforest heritage since 2004. WHO choose to mount Kerinci because of its beautiful panoramic and an example of representing the ecologic and biologic process that has a significant role in the ecosystem. 

When doing strenuous activity like mountain hiking, eat a high nutrient food is a must. Eat something sweet can recharge your energy during the hiking activity. Before traveling to mount Kerinci, you can prepare some traditional snack from the local market. Jambi province has various delicious snacks that could fill you up during hiking activities. One of the favorite snacks is the Padamaran cake. 

Padamaran cake is Jambi’s traditional dish made of coconut milk and rice flour. Padamaran cake cooked at a banana leaf mold called Takir. By using banana leaf, it creates a unique aroma after the steamed process. As a tourist, you can find Padamaran cake in most of the food stall around Jambi city. It’s has a sweet and savory taste that comes from coconut milk.

To make Padamaran cake is quite challenging, especially making the Takir part. But you can use an aluminum foil mold to substitute the Takir. In this recipe, you will know how to make the original Padamaran cake.

Ingredient

• 150-gram rice flour
• 450 ml of coconut milk
• 75 ml thick coconut milk
• 75-gram palm sugar
• 50 ml of pandan leaf juice
• 1 teaspoon pandan paste
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Banana leaves

How to make Takir

1. Prepare banana leaves and toothpicks.
2. Fold banana leaves into two-part.
3. Fold each side to make a boat shape.
4. Seal with a toothpick on both sides.

You can follow this YouTube link to get a better view on making Takir https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtbxASDq-UY 

How to cook

1. Prepare a medium boiling pot, mix rice flour, coconut milk, and salt. Cook while stirring continuously until the flour dissolve.
2. Add pandan juice, and pandan paste.
3. Cook until boiling. Don’t forget to keep stirring during the process.
4. Prepare takir mold and pour the palm sugar.
5. Pour two tablespoon of the mixture into the Takir. Add some palm sugar above it. Repeat to all takir mold
6. Steam with medium heat for five minutes.
7. Add one tablespoon thick coconut milk into the steamed cake.
8. Steam again for ten minutes.
9. Padamaran cake ready to be served.