puding raja

Puding Raja ("Royal Pudding") is a traditional Pahang Malay dish taken as an appetizer or dessert and is easy to make.
In the state of Pahang, this popular delicacy (sometimes also known as "Puding DiRaja") can be found in some restaurants and food-stalls in the royal town of Pekan.
A favorite appetizer or dessert taken by local folks with their evening tea, this calory-filled cuisine is also normally served during traditional Malay weddings and festivals.

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Puding Raja is not so much a pudding as a simple dish of bananas with a sauce or gravy of made from milk and cornflour.
"Pisang lemak manis", which is a sweet and rather small type of local banana is usually used as the main ingredient, although other banana varieties are also used.
To add variety and to give a sweeter taste to the dish, other fruits like prunes, cherries and sometimes dates, are also added. A special sweet noodle-like traditional Malay delicacy called "jala emas" is also (when available) sometimes added on the bananas.

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As mentioned, Puding Raja is quite easy and fast to make, and takes about 10 – 15 minutes to be ready for serving.
Malays usually take their afternoon tea with some simple snacks, like "pisang goring" (fried bananas) or "cucur kodok" (fried ball-shaped wheat flour filled with onions and anchovies), and other easy and quick-cooking snacks.
You will therefore find that some dutiful Malay housewives will prepare Puding Raja as special afternoon tea accompaniments for the husband or family, especially during the week-ends.

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PUDING RAJA RECIPE
Well, for the chefs out there, here’s a typical recipe for that special Pahang Malay traditional dish known as Puding Raja: -
INGREDIENTS
5 – 10 pieces of (not too ripe) bananas (pisang lemak manis preferable) (**P.S.–- number of pieces according to degree of hunger pangs and longing!)
5 or more pieces of prunes
5 or more pieces of red cherries

SAUCE (Gravy) INGREDIENTS
1 liter of milk
2 tablespoons of condensed milk
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 egg (beaten softly)
125 ml water
COOKING METHOD
1. Fry the bananas in cooking oil (just a short while in low heat) until they turn a little dark yellowish (not fried). Then take them out and put aside on a plate. If available, spread the "jala mas" on top of the bananas.
2. The sauce or gravy ingredients are blended and mixed together and then boiled in a pot. Stir them well while cooking until the sauce becomes a little thick.
SERVING
1. Let the sauce or gravy cool before pouring them on the bananas and other fruits. Ready to serve.
2. Eat as much as you like and add some more!!!
(**P.S.-- This recipe was given by my niece, Siti Sarah Fatimah, who made me a delicious dish when I visited her family in Kuantan, Pahang.)