Kolang-kaling is one of the most popular food ingredients. Usually this lontar fruit is used as an ingredient in fresh drinks and kolak. Its chewy texture and distinctive taste make kolang-kaling popular with many people.
However, processing kolang-kaling is not easy, it requires special attention. One of the main challenges is the processing process which is quite time-consuming and laborious. Starting from peeling the hard skin, cleaning the mucus, to boiling it to get a chewy and soft texture.
In addition, the sour smell of palm fruit also makes this food ingredient tend to be difficult to process. The sour smell of palm fruit usually comes from soaking for a very long time. So, when sold, palm fruit is usually soaked in water to keep it fresh. However, this process makes the smell and taste of palm fruit sour and the surface slimy.
To overcome this, most people usually boil the palm fruit with a special technique. For example, by adding certain ingredients, such as cloves, cinnamon, or lime leaves. A number of these ingredients are considered to be able to remove the smell and mucus from the palm fruit.
But besides boiling, you can use other techniques when processing palm fruit. This technique was once done by Instagram user @rifa_ardiyanti. Through one of the videos uploaded, she admitted that she did not boil palm fruit to remove its sour smell. However, the Instagram user chose to steam palm fruit with the addition of one type of spice.
As reported by BrilioFood from Instagram @rifa_ardiyanti on Wednesday (18/9), the spice in question is pandan leaves. Well, steaming palm fruit with pandan leaves can help remove the smell and sour taste that sticks to palm fruit. Not only that, palm fruit cooked in this way can also be soft quickly, you know.
But before steaming, the palm fruit must be soaked first in rice washing water. You can soak it directly for a few hours to remove the mucus that sticks to it. Because, this mucus will also make the palm fruit taste sour if not removed.
Instagram/@rifa_ardiyanti
Next, rinse the palm fruit until it is completely clean. Then heat the water in a steamer pan. When the water is hot, place the pandan leaves on the steamer base. Then, put the palm fruit on the steamer strainer. After that, add a few more pandan leaves that have been washed clean.
Instagram/@rifa_ardiyanti
Once done, cover the steamer and steam the palm fruit for 20 minutes. Compared to boiling, this technique can make the palm fruit soft faster. In addition, the hot steam that comes out of this process will make the sour smell disappear even more.
Instagram/@rifa_ardiyanti
Once steamed and soft, immediately remove the palm fruit. Then rinse again so that the smell and sour taste are gone. Only then is the palm fruit ready to be processed. You can cook it as a kolak filling or for sweets cooked with sugar, syrup, and food coloring.