Though desserts are not common in Malaysia, there are sweets made out of rice flour, coconut milk, palm sugar, and other flavorings. They are called kueh. These local cakes are steamed to create a type of sweet rice pastry eaten as a midday snack. Most kueh are steamed, though some are cooked on thin waffle irons, and others are deep-fried. Palm sugar (called gula melacca or melaka), coconut milk, and bananas are some flavorings used in kueh. Leaves from the pandanus plant (sometimes referred to as screw-pine) perfume and tint green versions of kueh. In lieu of rice flour, which is most common, Malays also make kueh with glutinious rice flour, tapioca starch, and sweet potato starch. They seldom use wheat flour.
A plate of shaved ice from a café or street food vendor counters the tropical heat in Malaysia and Singapore. Toppings for this sweet repast include sugar-stewed red beans, shredded coconut, jackfruit, opaque black cubes of honeyed agar-agar (seaweed gelatin), sweet creamed corn, and pearls of sago tapioca. Loving spoonfuls of dark amber palm sugar syrup, coconut milk, or condensed milk are poured over the shaved ice to complete the luscious scene. Pandanus leaves often lend their brilliant green color and flavor to mung bean noodles, as in the Cendol. This shaved ice concoction cools the soul on a hot tropical day: a bowl is filled with some of the tender squiggly noodles and cooked sweet adzuki beans, then topped with shaved ice, doused with thick fresh coconut milk, and drizzled with deep-brown palm sugar syrup.
