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Pandan Waffles
To me, what’s even more blissful than Belgium waffles are waffles with a local, Asian twist in the form of these delectable pandan waffles I grew up on. Pandan is a tropical plant whereby the leaves are often used in cooking, baking and drinks. For those of us who are familiar with the taste of pandan, you will agree with me that pandan imparts an irreplaceable fragrance to many South East Asian dishes.
See Also:
- Belgium Waffles Recipe (above)
In my earlier experiments, my waffles did not have the distinct fragrant aroma of pandan in them. I tried adding more pandan paste, but the pandan flavour was still faint and instead, I ended up with a very funky shade of neon coloured waffles.
Ingredients: pandan paste (the ”Koepoe” brand is recommended, available at Sheng Siong supermarkets), organic extra virgin coconut oil, and coconut milk (you can use fresh, tetra pak or powered ones)
I used fresh coconut milk (instead of powered or tetra pak ones) but still, the pandan flavour was faint. I hit the jackpot when I used coconut oil instead of regular olive oil for my waffles and voila! the pandan flavour was distinct and rich. I realised that for pandan bakes, the most important ingredient is pandan paste, coconut milk (surprise!) coconut oil. Just like a little salt magically brings out the flavour of many dishes, the coconut oil complements and draws out the pandan flavour. With the coconut oil, you only need to add a minimal amount of pandan paste and it does not matter even if you are not not using fresh coconut milk. I bought extra virgin organic coconut oil from iherb.com (use my affliate code WIF026 to get up to $10 off first order); you may also find coconut oil from supermarkets or organic food shops in Singapore. To find out more about the waffles iron I used, read Belgium waffles recipe for more information.
quick question – does pandan paste refer to kaya? if not, where can i get it? tia! :)
No, pandan paste is not kaya. check out the second photo on this page and the caption – there is a photo of the pandan paste, as well as the place to buy in SG (sheng siong supermarket).
Where can you get pandan paste?
check out the second photo on this page and the caption – there is a photo of the pandan paste, as well as the place to buy in SG (sheng siong supermarket).
Thanks for sharing your experiment with coconut oil that it complements pandan well. . . . haven’t use coconut oil in my bakes before, shall try it next time.
Coconut oil itself is quite fragrant, so maybe it accentuates and makes the pandan waffles more fragrant? I don’t know, just guessing. I suddenly thought of pandan leaves when cooking nasi-lemak rice and chicken rice – former has coconut milk, and latter, not even any type of coconut products; but still both rice have a faint pandan lingering aroma when cooked right. That said, these are not sweet bakes. So when baking, maybe really coconut oil really draws out the magic of pandan.
maybe I am spoiled by Bengawan Solo’s pandan cake, which has a rich pandan + coconut flavour. Yes, now that you mention it, the pandan leaves do seem to have more impact on savoury dishes. Maybe the flour and sugar sort of overpowers the pandan aroma.
I see recipes with pandan so often, but never made anything with it…I would love to get this panda paste.
The waffle looks delicious, light and colorful.
Have a great weekend Wiffy :D
How exotic and delicious! Not sure I can get pandan over here…have to double check the Asia store next time I stop by.
You have given me additional ideas for waffles for sure Wiffy! We don’t eat flour or gluten at home but I’m sure I can come up something with pandan! or green tea!
Hey Wiffy! I decided to use the pandan extract that comes in a can instead, because that’s all that I found. I tried using 60 ml of it and it was the perfect taste, but the waffle was really spongy and cake-like. How can I adjust the ingredients to match this?
Forgot to mention- I can’t seem to make it crunch up either! What seems to be causing this problem? I’ve tried different heats, longer times, but it all ends up the same (not even burnt!)
Did you really use 60ml of pandan extract? That’s like more than 12 tsp. The recipe only calls for 1/4 tsp of pandan extract.
Tge pandan extract I used was watered down and said 35% pandan extract. It wasn’t a true extract or paste- it came in a can. I can’t seem to find any other form of it.
I see, I understand it may be hard to get pandan extract depending on where you are. It do seem though, that the batter may be too liquid. So you can adjust from there.
hi, is there other ingredients that I can substitute the coconut oil with?
Is it possible to make this batter in advance