Maritime Southeast Asia · Volume 44, The Long Reduction, the Merantau Road and the Veranda of Mecca
Dodol
West Sumatra, ceremonial
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 4 hours
- Researched
- 11 sources cited
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Hours of continuous paddling, traditionally a shared, social task, not solitary kitchen work.
As tradition built it
Serves 8 to 10 as a sweet. 2 to 4 hours of continuous stirring.
Ingredients
- 500 g glutinous rice flour (tepung ketan)
- 1.5 litres thick coconut milk, from 3 to 4 mature coconuts
- 500 g palm or coconut sugar (gula merah or gula aren)
- 200 to 350 g white sugar
- a pinch salt
- 3 leaves pandan leaf
Method
- Simmer the coconut milk, sugars, salt and pandan together until the sugar has fully dissolved, then strain.
- Combine the rice flour with a portion of this liquid to make a smooth slurry, then stir it back into the remaining hot liquid in a heavy-based pan.
- Cook over low heat, stirring continuously without stopping, using a strong, long paddle, for two to four hours, until the mixture thickens enough to pull cleanly away from the sides of the pan rather than sticking.
- Pour into a lined tray, cool fully, and cut into pieces once set.
What a modern chef changes
The paddling automated, the finish kept honest.
Method
- Use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment on the lowest setting for the bulk of the reduction, checking and finishing by hand toward the end, when the mixture thickens enough that judging by feel matters most: this removes hours of physically demanding labour without changing the chemistry of the reduction itself.
- Portion and dehydrate a thin layer of the finished dodol at low temperature for a chewy-to-crisp textural variant alongside the traditional soft-set version, a genuine addition rather than a replacement.