Good Enough for the Sultan of Brunei.

Lore has it that fourteen brothers set out to discover a new land to call home. The brothers found an ideal place with verdant hills, a fresh water supply, and an ample amount of fish to eat. The place they discovered was along the Brunei river and would later become present-day Brunei Darussalam. One of the brothers named Awang Alak Betatar became the first Sultan of Brunei around 1400 AD.

Fast forward to 2022 when the tiny country in Southeast Asia is thriving as a nation. They’re considered one of the safest countries in the East to visit for tourism and come in second on the human development index behind Singapore. According to the website Facts and Details, Brunei has an “abundance of oil money floating around [so] citizens of Brunei have a strong welfare system with free education, free health care and subsidized housing, low-interest housing loans, subsidized rent, subsistence payments for widows, even a free amusement park” which is pretty darn rad. They currently are ruled by the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. Hey Sultan, how does one become a citizen of Brunei? I’m just asking for a friend 👀.

Searching for recipes to recreate for this newsletter was a bit hard I must say. Everything looked interesting or delicious to make, but most recipes require ingredients that may be hard to source outside of New York. A good chunk of dishes had pandan leaves or juice which I can readily find, but not so sure if someone elsewhere in America can find that if they wanted to reproduce the dish. 

I really wanted to make these! Pandan crepes filled with coconut + palm sugar filling. Image from Brunei Tourism.

I finally decided on making kuih penyaram which are UFO-shaped fried treats. They’re made with five simple ingredients and fried to crunchy golden perfection. This might be one of the simplest recipes that I am sharing for the Eating A-Z series. All you have to do is mix the dry ingredients with water, let it sit in Tupperware for four hours in the fridge then fry. It’s really that simple.

Penyaram! Yum Yum.

Once cooked you will be delighted with a snack that tastes like a crispier version of funnel cake. The penyaram has a slightly vanilla-y taste which I think comes from the brown sugar and an airy inside with pockets of sweetness. I ate the Bruneian snack with gusto only wishing I had left some for an after-dinner dessert. I still have some batter left in the fridge so maybe I’ll be having a UFO shaped breakfast this week.

Fried Goods.

Inside of Fried Goods.

Munching on my 3rd one. I’m a monster or maybe I’m always hungry because of a tapeworm. We’ll never know.

This recipe was written in metric measurements which I highly recommend folks use for more precise measuring, but I’ve also provided US standard measurements as well.

Kuih Penyaram

(Recipe adapted from Miss Ling’s Kitchen)

125 grams/1 cup Rice Flour

125 grams/1 cup All Purpose Flour

90 grams/Heaping ¼ cup White Sugar

90 grams/Heaping ¼ cup Brown Sugar

275 ml/1 cup + 1 tbsp hot water

Enough oil for frying

Combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Slowly add hot water to the dry mix making sure to scoop the bottom of the bowl. Once thoroughly combined pass the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a large Tupperware container. Leave the container in the fridge for four hours. 

Passing the batter through a strainer.

The penyaram starts to puff up on the edges making it into the UFO shape.

This is what you want it to look like.

Flipped over with curled up edges.

Heat enough oil for frying over medium-high heat in a frying pan. Pour about ¼ cup of batter into the pan. Cook one penyaram at a time. They will start to curl up on the sides and brown. Flip it over once it’s sufficiently golden brown on one side and continue to fry until the other side is equally golden brown. They will be very soaked in oil so you should let them dry out on an absorbent paper towel or let them drain in a fine-mesh strainer sitting in a bowl.

They will be oily so let them dry out and drain in a strainer or paper towel.

Eat them as quickly as I did and let me know what you think!

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Our first Meet + Eat will be May 7th - 5pm at the Queens Night Market! If you’ve never been you will be in for a treat. It happens at Flushing Meadows near the NY Hall of Science (super accessible off the 7 train line). Dozens upon dozens of stalls with food from all over the world are at the market. Entrance to the market is FREE, but I do suggest bringing cash for food although many vendors nowadays have credit card readers. To RSVP + receive more info closer to the event just sign up here!

Cook. Eat. Repeat.

Natalie 💗✨