''Kue talam'' is an

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

kue Kue are bite-sized snacks or desserts originally from what is now Indonesia but have since spread throughout Southeast Asia. ''Kue'' is a fairly broad term in Indonesian to describe a wide variety of snacks including cakes, cookies, fritters, p ...

'' or traditional

steamed Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. This is often done with a food steamer, a kitchen appliance made specifically to cook food with steam, but food can also be steamed in a wok. In the American Southwest, steam pits used for cooking ha ...

snack made of a

rice flour Rice flour (also rice powder) is a form of flour made from finely milled rice. It is distinct from rice starch, which is usually produced by steeping rice in lye. Rice flour is a common substitute for wheat flour. It is also used as a thickening ...

coconut milk Coconut milk is a plant milk extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of the milky-white liquid are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food ingred ...

and other ingredients in a mold pan called ''talam'' which means "tray" in

. The cake mold used to create kue talam are either larger rectangular aluminium tray or smaller singular cups made from ceramics, aluminium, melamine or plastic. Kue talam and its variations are commonly found in various Indonesian regional cuisine traditions; from

Betawi Betawi may refer to: *Betawi people *Betawi language *Betawi cuisine Betawi cuisine is rich, diverse and eclectic, in part because the Betawi people that create them were composed from numbers of Native Indonesian, regional immigrants that came ...

Minang Minang may refer to: Sumatra * Minangkabau people, an ethnic group in Sumatra * Padang cuisine or Minang food, the cuisine of the Minangkabau people * Minang language, the language spoken by the Minangkabau people Australia * Mineng Mineng ...

, Malay,

Batak Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian peoples, Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo people ( ...

, to Sundanese and Javanese. Kue talam was introduced by the

Sino-Burmese Chinese Burmese, also Sino-Burmese or Tayoke (), are Burmese citizens of Han Chinese ethnicity. They are a group of overseas Chinese born or raised in Myanmar (Burma). Burmese Chinese are a well established ethnic group and are well represen ...

Lower Myanmar Lower Myanmar (, also called Lower Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar and includes the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta ( Ayeyarwady, Bago and Yangon Regions), as well as coastal regions of the country ( Rakhine and Mon States and Tanintharyi Regi ...

, where it is known as ''kway talan'' (). Kue talam usually has two layers; the top one is white made from savoury creamy coconut milk, while the bottom one is coloured according to each variant's recipe. The green pandan flavour, the yellow yam and the brown coconut sugar flavours are the most common one.

Ingredients

The basic ingredients of kue talam are

, granulated

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

, and pandan leaves. Other ingredients might be included to create the lower coloured part. The top one is white and made simply using more coconut milk, rice flour, sugar and salt, and usually tastes savoury, mild sweet with softer creamy consistency. The bottom one is a little bit firmer and has colours according to added ingredients. The bottom coloured layer are poured first into the mold. After being half cooked being steamed for some times, the white layer is added on top and steamed further. The

mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures that certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal ...

being used traditionally is rectangular aluminium tray mold, hence the name ''talam'' (tray), thus the cake is required to be cut into rectangular or square shape prior of serving. Today however, the singular small cups akin to ''

chawan A ''chawan'' (; literally "tea bowl") is a bowl used for preparing and drinking tea. Many types of ''chawan'' are used in East Asian tea ceremonies. History The ''chawan'' originated in China. The earliest ''chawan'' in Japan were imported ...

'' (Chinese teacup) are often used as mold; either made from ceramics, aluminium, plastic or

melamine Melamine is an organic compound with the formula C3H6N6. This white solid is a trimer (chemistry), trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-Triazine, 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 66% nitrogen by mass, and its derivatives ha ...

Variations

Sweet

Kue talam normally tastes sweet and consists of two layers, white top and coloured bottom. Kue talam could be made in various flavours which contributes to the colours of the bottom part, they are: #Green: the green bottom kue talam is using ''suji'' or the green juice acquired from

pandan leaf Pandan may refer to: Plants *''Pandanus'', a genus of tropical trees, the screw-pines **''Pandanus amaryllifolius'', a tropical plant used in Southeast Asian cuisine Places Brunei * Kampong Pandan, Brunei Malaysia * Pandan-Tebrau, a location ...

. #Brown: the brown colour is acquired from ''gula merah'' or ''gula jawa'' (

coconut sugar Coconut sugar (also known as coco sugar, coconut palm sugar, coco sap sugar or coconut blossom sugar) is a palm sugar produced from the sap of the flower bud stem of the coconut palm. Other types of palm sugar are made from the kithul palm ('' Ca ...

). #Yellow: the yellow bottom is acquired from red or yellow

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of ...

, pumpkin or corn. #Purple: the purple colour is acquired from ''ubi ungu'' or

purple yam ''Dioscorea alata''also called ube (), ubi, purple yam, or greater yam, among many other namesis a species of yam (a tuber). The tubers are usually a vivid violet-purple to bright lavender (hence the common name), but some range from creamy ...

taro Taro (; ''Colocasia esculenta'') is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and Petiole (botany), petioles. Taro corms are a ...

Savoury

Most of kue talam tastes sweet, however there is also a salty and savoury variants that uses ''ebi'' or

dried shrimp Dried shrimp are shrimp that have been sun-dried and shrunk to a thumbnail size. They are used in many African, East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian cuisines, imparting a unique umami taste. A handful of shrimp is generally used for dish ...

for flavour, which is called ''talam udang'' or "shrimp talam" in Betawi cuisine of Jakarta.

References

External links