Mother, Baby & Kids

DEEPAVALI SNACK: Delicious Coconut Candy with a Peranakan Twist

Merryn Tan

I remember visiting our neighbour for Deepavali when we were children. Without fail, there was always this sweet coconut candy that I will go for the first thing I got there. It was usually in a lovely pink hue.

Today, I tried making them but added a Peranakan twist to it using natural PANDAN and BUNGA TELANG for colour.

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I also reduced the sugar a little because as we grow older, our sugar tolerance is no longer as high as when we were younger.

Coconut candy is my all-time favourite and it is one of those recipes that does not require too many ingredients.

THREE basic ingredients for Coconut Candy: Grated coconut, Condensed Milk and Sugar. Blue Pea Flower and Pandan extract is used as a natural colouring alternative.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serving Size: 32 bite-sized pieces

Ingredients:

3 cups freshly grated coconut (1 coconut)
3/4 cup condensed milk
1/2 cup sugar
10 pandan leaves
1 tablespoon dried pea flower
Pinch of salt

Method:

  1. Pour hot water into a bowl of dried blue pea flowers. Set aside.
  2. Cut 8 pandan leaves into a blender.
  3. Pour just enough water to blend.
  4. Pour through a strainer.
  5. Keep pandan extract aside for later use.
  6. For measurement, use the same cup to measure the coconut, milk and sugar.
  7. I used freshly grated coconut for this. If you don’t have freshly grated coconuts, you can also use desiccated coconuts. You will just need to steam them first.
  8. Pour grated coconut into a wok.
  9. Cut a couple of pandan leaves.
  10. Cook grated coconut on low heat for about 5 minutes.
  11. Once the coconut is dry and a little yellow, turn off the heat.
  12. Remove pandan leaves.
  13. Pour condensed milk into the wok of grated coconut.
  14. Add sugar.
  15. Turn the heat back on and mix.
  16. Add a pinch of salt and continue mixing.
  17. Divide coconut into two portions.
  18. Then divide one half of it into two and scoop those two portions out.
  19. Add a teaspoon of water into the grated coconut in the wok and cook until sugar is dissolved.
  20. Once the coconut has dried up, scoop out into two small trays.
  21. Pour one portion of the grated coconut that was kept aside earlier into the wok.
  22. Add pandan extract.
  23. Cook until the liquid dries up and coconut is dry.
  24. Meanwhile, press to flatten one of the cooked grated coconut in the small tray.
  25. Cover hands with plastic to avoid the coconut sticking onto the fingers.
  26. Once the coconut is dry, turn the heat off.
  27. Scoop into the earlier small tray and press to flatten.
  28. Now proceed with the last batch of coconut to make the blue pea flower version.
  29. Add blue pea extract into it.
  30. Cook until the liquid dries up and coconut is dry.
  31. Scoop the blue coconut alternately with white coconut to form a marble effect for the second small tray.
  32. Press to firm up.
  33. Refrigerate both trays overnight.
  34. Next day, remove from tray and cut into bite-sized pieces.
  35. Serve.
Don’t let these Nyonya kueh fool you. They are actually Coconut Candy! Refrigerate overnight to allow these cooked grated coconut to firm up into mouth-watering candy.
Pandan Coconut Candy that looks like Peranakan Nyonya’s Kueh Salat (Seri Muka).
Bunga Telang Coconut Candy that is made to look like Peranakan Nyonya’s Pulut Tekan.

Reading the method instruction may seem to be too wordy and confusing but it is actually not. Making Coconut Candy is actually very straight forward and easy.

Refer to this video to see how ridiculously easy it is. The most important thing to remember is to ensure to cook the coconut until the liquid dries up otherwise they won’t be able to firm up into a candy.