Mum's Recipe: Kueh Sago (Sago Cake)

This recipe was taught to me a long time ago by my mother. This is one of those recipes passed down without proper documentation. I think a lot of those recipes that I will share with you from mum are like that. She'll tell you, a handful of flour, a dash of sugar, a stick of gula melaka (palm sugar)... it is like, you go figure lah :).

Anyway, I did this through virtual recall of her words. The actual ingredient portions are really my own and it turned out ok. Perhaps the sugar portion can be increased as I put very little in the cake.


Ingredients
150g Pearl Sago
220ml of Santan (1 tube coconut cream from the supermarket)
1 tbsp water
3 tbsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of instant coffee powder
pinch of salt
80g of grated coconut


Method

1. Soak the Pearl Sago for about 1/2 hour and rinse a few times to get rid of the excess starch
   
2. Heat up a pan and pour the Santan (coconut cream) with 1 tbsp water to dilute it a bit. Bring it to a slow boil.
3. Stir in the soaked sago.
4. As the sago is turning transparent, put in the coffee powder and continue stirring. This is to give the coffee flavor and the coloring. If you don't like coffee, you can put in other coloring. For flavoring, you can try pandan essence.
5. Once the sago has totally turned transparent, add the sugar.
6. When the sugar has totally blended with the sago, turn off the fire and pour the cake into a greased pan to cool.
7. Cut the sago cake into pieces and toss it the grated coconut (which has been added a pinch of salt).
8. Serve slightly chilled.