Make Ahead
Pandan Chiffon Cake
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5 Reviews
lripley
April 30, 2010
I bought frozen pandam leaves a few weeks ago and started out simple by adding about 3 long leaves to 1 C of rice I was cooking. The smell of the leaves out of the package was wonderful--a little bit like cooked rice. But not much of any taste was imparted to the rice. Did I not add enough? Something wrong with my leaves? Any ideas?
Thanks for your help. I've been learning a little bit about Filipino recipes recently.
Thanks for your help. I've been learning a little bit about Filipino recipes recently.
ying
May 1, 2010
Hi lripley! It may be your leaves - the quality of frozen ones varies a lot, and 3 leaves to 1 cup of rice sounds like a lot to me. But pandan, like vanilla, adds more fragrance than taste. You can amplify it by bruising the leaves before using them, and cooking your rice with a little salt and coconut milk to make the flavour blossom. Hth!
ying
April 24, 2010
Argh - I forgot to mention that if your coconut milk is at all lumpy, pass it through a fine sieve. Otherwise, you'll have tiny lumps in your finished cake - not a total loss, but annoying all the same.
monkeymom
April 24, 2010
Sounds great! (better wash that pan out real good!) I'll be on the look out for the pandan - is it usually found fresh?
ying
April 24, 2010
Hee! I love your roast chicken, but worried the first time I made it that I'd ruin my pandan cake pan. So far, it's all good. ;) I've never seen fresh pandan in North America but you can buy the leaves frozen at good Asian markets.
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