Apam Solo

Last Sunday, I made a day trip to Shah Alam to visit the family of my cousin who passed away after battling cancer for about one and a half years. My heart goes out to his family, especially his wife and five young sons. May Allah give them the strength and patience to get through this tragic time. Ameen..

Right after the afternoon prayers, a prayer session (tahlil) for my late cousin was held. Besides family and friends, the neighbours, including the neighbourhood imam, were also present. What strikes me, from my observation and feedback from my cousins, is the community spirit of gotong-royong which is so much alive although the neighbourhood is relatively new and, I believe, majority of the residents are young families. That helped my late cousin's family a lot as both of them are quite new to the area. My cousin was a Singaporean who, before receiving treatment for his cancer in Kuala Lumpur, was working in Singapore and travelled up north every weekend to join his family. His wife who is from the East Coast works in Shah Alam and looks after the five sons. Soon after the neighbours received news of my cousin's passing, a few neighbours approached and informed his family that they would help with the funeral arrangement. They also helped with the tahlil sessions for several days, including the preparation of food. 

For the tahlil session on Sunday, a type of apam with red bean filling was served. I had not eaten that type of apam before, so when I first tasted it, I liked it a lot as it not only tasted good but it also looked pretty. After googling for the recipe on my return to Singapore, I found out that it is called Apam Bengawan Solo or just Apam Solo. It tastes somewhat like pau except that it's softer and spongier as the batter is quite watery. I would highly recommend you to try this recipe especially if you like traditional kuih. 

Apam Solo

COCONUT FILLING

Ingredients:

70g palm sugar

15g sugar

70 ml water

1 pandan leaf, torn

150g freshly-grated coconut

1/2 tbsp plain flour

1/8 tsp salt

Method:

1.     Combine palm sugar, sugar, water & pandan leaves in a saucepan until the syrup reaches a boil.

2.     Add in grated coconut & salt. Mix thoroughly.

3.     When the mixture is almost dry, add in flour & mix well.

4.     Remove from fire & leave to cool. Remove the pandan leaf before using the filling.

BATTER

Ingredients:

250g plain flour

1 tsp instant yeast

90g granulated sugar

125 ml evaporated milk

300 ml water

a pinch of salt

colouring - I used red & green.

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients except colouring & mix until well-blended. Then strain the batter.
2. Divide batter into 3 parts. Leave 1 part plain, colour 1 part red & the  other green. Cover & leave to rise for about 40 minutes.
3. In the meantime, grease moulds. Divide the filling & form into small balls. I divided into balls of 4g each. Set aside.
4. Prepare steamer. Pour the plain batter into the moulds. Put filling & then pour the red & green batter to the brim. Do until finish.
5. Steam on medium fire for about 15-20 minutes.
6. Remove from steamer & leave to cool. Once cooled,  remove the apam from the moulds.

Adapted from recipe shared by Seri Kandi Tanah Jauhar.

Notes:

1. The above recipe is half the recipe shared by Sk & it yields about 50 small pieces.
2. Besides coconut filling, you can also use red bean or savoury filling.
3. Since I used a small steamer, I had to steam the apam in a few batches. As a result, the last batch didn't turn out pretty as the center of the apam sank after it's removed from the steamer. I think the batter might have been overproofed. So my advice is you steam the apam in just one or two batches.