Kue Rangi

Festivals keep rolling here in Jakarta. As the city's anniversary are getting closer, the city becomes more attractive. There are lots of interesting activities during the last weekends, unfortunately I couldn't catch all of them. Nevertheless, we still had some family agenda during the weekend.

On last weekend we managed to attend the annual 'Palang Pintu Festival' in Kemang area, just for a couple of hours. The location is not too far from our home, and it's a friendly festival for family; the children still could enjoy the event. It's interesting to know that they started to recognize some of the traditional foods and some attractions. Cool!

@ Palang Pintu Festival, Kemang, Jakarta - June 2012

I took many pictures there but unfortunately I have no enough time for editing those pictures until now. Hopefully during this week I have time to 're-size' some of them and share on my next posting.

For now, to continue my adventure to rediscover Betawi traditional street food, I'm going to share the recipe of Kue Rangi, one of the famous authentic traditional Betawi snacks. During the Palang Pintu Festival I had a change to take some more pictures of making of Kue Rangi.

Kue Rangi is a simple traditional cake made by mixing grated coconut with sago flour, water and pinch of salt. It is cooked on a special mold using fire wood (no idea why fire wood, do you?). Soon after it is cooked and taken out from the mold, the warm palm sugar sauce will be spread on top of it.
It's crunchy on outside part and chewy inside. It has beautiful combination between savory-tasty coconut cake and sweet flavor from the sauce. Also it has nice harmony texture between the crunchy-chewy cake and gluey sauce. Delicious!
Normally, we can find Kue Rangi sellers with their two-wheeler push cart or carrying cart.



When I made it at home, I had to make little adjustment.
First, because I used a different size of standard Kue Rangi mold *that I borrowed from my mom, I decided to make single slices Kue Rangi. The notch on the mold are quite big, so I didn't put the batter until the top of the mold, only 2/3 part. I'm happy with the result, producing finger food size snack with the nice texture. It's dry and crunchy outside, soft and chewy inside. Just like what the theory says.

Second adjustment; instead of put the sauce on the unmolded cake, I chose to serve the 'plain cake' without spreading the sauce yet. I let everybody to dip the cake to the sauce just before they eat it. For us, it is really enjoyable while sitting down together, having our afternoon tea and dip the cake by ourselves on the sweet warm sauce. Yummy!

Kue Rangi
the authentic traditional Betawi snack.
Source : Femina Indonesia Magazine.
Bahan / Ingredients:
400 gr kelapa parut memanjang dari 1 butir kelapa setengah tua yang dikupas / 400 gr grated coconut from 1 skinned 'half-mature' coconut.
200 gr tepung sagu / 200 gr sago flour
1 sdt garam / 1 tsp salt
200 ml air / 200 ml water

Saus / Sauce :
150 gr gula merah, sisih halus / 150 gr brown sugar (palm sugar)*, finely sliced
100 ml air / 100 ml water
1 1/2 sdm tepung sagu, larutkan dengan / 1 1/2 tbsp sagoo flour, dissolve with
2 sdm air / 2 tbsp water

*Gula Merah, this is made from the sap of the coconut or sago palm tree, and is molded in various forms. Sometimes called palm sugar, it gives the cookies a brownish color. It tastes sweet, but the flavor is not as strong as that of granulated sugar 
( source: The best of Indonesia Dessert, by Yasa Boga).

Cara Membuat :
1. Saus : Didihkan gula merah dan air, aduk rata. Masak hingga gula larut. Angkat, saring. Jerang kembali di atas api sedang, masukkan larutan tepung sagu, aduk cepat. masak hingga mendidih dan kental. Angkat. Sisihkan.

2. Campur kelapa parut, tepung sagu, garam dan air. Aduk hingga adonan tercampur rata.

3. Panaskan cetakan khusu kue rangi, tuang 1-2 sdm adonan ke dalam tiap lubang cetakan, ratakan sambil tekan-tekan dan padatkan. Tutup dan masak di atas api sedang selama 10 menit hingga matang dan kering.

4. Olesi permukaan kue dengan saus, masak sebentar. Angkat dan lepaskan kue dari cetakannya. Sajikan.

English.
Method :
1. Sauce: Boil sugar and water , stir well. Cook until sugar dissolves. Remove and strain. Jerang back over medium heat, put sago flour solution, stirring rapidly. Cook until boiling and thickened. Lift. Set aside.

2. Mix the grated coconut, sago flour, salt and water. Stir until mixture is well blended.

3. Heat a special mold rangi cake, pour 1-2 tablespoons of batter into each mold hole, flatten with tap-tap and make it compacted. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes until cooked and dry.

4. Brush the surface of the cake with the sauce and cook briefly. Lift and remove the cake from the mold. Serve.

Tip : I prefer to steam the grated coconut to prevent them from turning rancid before process them. It'll help the cake to be more preserved and no get stale. 

Have a good Tuesday night.