National Day holds a double meaning for me as my youngest son was born on this historical date. He was due in September but somehow decided to pop out three weeks early.
I still remember pre-COVID19, my family and I would spend our National Day mornings watching the Merdeka parade either live or on television. We love watching the colourful parade, the march past and the gathering of multi-racial Malaysians waving our National Flag with pride and unity. The last we got to enjoy that was two years ago. Sadly, at present, we are all stuck indoors due to the pandemic.
Though we are unable to celebrate like how we used to be, we have to make the best of our situation right now. I still make it a must to get a cake for my son, to sing him the birthday song so he can make a wish and blow the flame off the candle; normalising the situation as we best can.
To celebrate this historical day, I will be sharing an easy Merdeka themed dessert. It is a common dessert that I am sure you have come across at least once in your life – Sago with Palm Sugar syrup.
This is one of the easiest desserts to prepare. All we need to do is boil the sago pearls and scoop them into cups. Next, prepare the palm sugar syrup to drizzle onto the sago pudding before serving.
Let’s see the step-by-step on how this colourful Merdeka themed dessert is made:
Sago in Palm Sugar Syrup Dessert Recipe
Equipment
- Pot
Ingredients
- 1 cup white sago pearls 200g
- 1.5 liter water
- 30 g palm sugar
- 1 leaf pandan
Instructions
- Boil water in a pot.
- Pour sago pearls into boiling water.
- Boil until sago pearls turn translucent. Stir to keep sago pearls from clumping together.
- Sago pearls is ready when they are fully translucent.
- Pour cooked sago pearls into a strainer.
- Run water through them to remove excess starch.
- Scoop sago pearls equally into 4 bowls. Add a teaspoon of natural colouring into each bowl except for white (I use blue pea flower for blue, beetroot juice for red and a dash of turmeric powder for yellow).
- Leave the sago pearls for a couple of minute to absorb the colours.
- Scoop coloured sago pearls into glasses.
- Layer them according to our National flag.
- Once you are done layering, chill the glasses in refrigerator for at least two hours for the sago pearls to set.
- While waiting for the sago pearls to set, prepare palm sugar syrup. Chop palm sugar into smaller pieces and boil with water and pandan leaf until fragrant.
- Pour palm sugar syrup onto sago pudding before serving.
If you noticed, I assembled a chicken rice cake too for our celebration. I wanted to make Nasi Lemak cake as it is our national pride but because my youngest son can’t tolerate too much spicy food, I decided to go for the safer choice of chicken rice for the cake. I also got him a cheesecake. If you want to make your own cheesecake, do check out my cheesecake recipe here.
Happy National Day, Malaysia!
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