In Yogya, Apam for Breakfast

Should you wake up one morning in Yogyakarta afflicted with a fierce hunger, find your way to the Pasar Burung (bird market) in the Kraton, the walled city within a city that's home to the Sultan's palace. You're not there for the bird market, but the wet market next door, a small covered maze of stalls selling everything from melinjo flowers, leaves, and nuts to prepared dishes.

Wander the aisles until you find, at one far corner, this vendor, who's been making and selling her baked apam (rice flour cakes) here for over 35 years. These aren't just any apam, but lovely spongy, light-as-air apam made with coconut milk and lots of fresh grated coconut.

If you're a coconut lover you'll want to order four, five, or more. They're only lightly sweetened, so the flavor of the coconut meat sits right at the fore. The vendor sells so many that there are always hot ones to hand. Ask for yours to be wrapped in banana leaf rather than paper; the heat of your rice cake will draw out the leaf's fragrance.

 

It's quite an ingenious set-up she's got here. A specially indented cast-iron apam tray is suspended over a metal box filled with hot charcoal. She spoons in the apam batter, and then places a metal lid over the tray. The apam bake just as if they were in a conventional oven. 

 

Every once in a while she lift the oven lid to turn the apam, making sure that both sides crisp up and color golden brown. While the inside of the apam stays tender and fluffy the outside develops a very thin, lightly crunchy and chewy crust.

 

Did I mention that she makes two versions? One with egg, and one without. You'll want to try both, of course, for purposes of comparison. But the egg version possesses a certain extra something that pretty much makes it the coconut pancake of my dreams.

Rice flour cakes - are made all over Southeast and South Asia. Some are steamed, some are baked. Some are soft, some are crumbly, some are gummy. Some are eaten plain, others embellished with palm sugar. Some are plain, some flavored with pandan or coconut, or colored with ubi.

These Jogja baked apam are - so far - our favorite.

Apam vendor, wet market next to Pasar Burung, Kraton, Yogyakarta. 630am-noonish.

Comments

[Christine]

Oh wow. These look amazing...totally thinking I could recreate this in an ebelskiver pan. And to think that I was putting off purchasing said pan, because it only has one use. Huzzah, now there are two.

You had me at coconut.

[Eurasian Sensation]

I'm really curious about the connection with the Indonesian apam, the Malaysian apom balik, and the Sri Lankan/South Indian appam (hoppers). All are rice flour & coconut pancakes, but where did the dish orginate? SE Asian cuisine reflects a lot of South Asian influence, but there is considerable Indonesian/Malay influence in Sri Lanka as well.
I'd love it if someone out there had an answer for that.

[Robyn]

Christine - There should be LOTS of grated coconut meat in these. Leave a comment if you're able to recreate the recipe.

ES - And then there is Thai kanom krok, and a similar Cambodian coconut 'pancake' ... not to mention Filipino puto. Like you I'm also curious as to where these originated ...

[Kitt]

I'd love to try those. I guess I'll have to look for a recipe and try to make them myself!

[Hazel]

I loved the steamed appam I ate in South India, which were made with a fermented batter. They had a slightly acid taste and were always served with a viciously spicy sambar a coconut chatni I've been trying to re-create ever since, but not having access to a coconut grinder or several of the ingredients I'm just going to have to wait until I can get back to Bangalore. We used to have them for breakfast - all the westerners were skeptical to start with but all were quickly converted. These sound like a wonderful variation on the same theme, though I think I'd miss the chilli-lime-coconut-coriander-mustard hit of the sambar and the chatni.

[Pepy]

I almost thought that you were in India as you said apam. I wish I had apem mould :)

[Selba]

Ah.... nice kue apem!

[Barbara]

Wow, these look delicious. I really often wonder why the best-tasting food are often sold in carts on the streets, wet markets, or watering holes rather than those in restaurants.

Anyway, right now I can't think of a similar Filipino delicacy. Puto is made generally of flour while the bibingka is made of soybean flour although both are garnished with grated coconut. But this Apam is made entirely of coconut batter? Interesting. Hope I can taste some one day.

[Barbara]

Wow, these look delicious. I really often wonder why the best-tasting food are often sold in carts on the streets, wet markets, or watering holes rather than those in restaurants.

Anyway, right now I can't think of a similar Filipino delicacy. Puto is made generally of flour while the bibingka is made of soybean flour although both are garnished with grated coconut. But this Apam is made entirely of coconut batter? Interesting. Hope I can taste some one day.

[Tuty]

Fantastic apem close-up photo... My mouth waters.

[mira212]

adoiii!! i love these!! yum! i seriously love this.. my mum used to make this a lil bit of rice flour, glutinous rice flour, wheat flour and leave overnight, then add salt.. before putting into the cast!! waaaaaa, i miss this so much!! great post! :)

[Pat]

My mum has a single apam pan--it looks like a mini wok! I have yet to try making it. Perhaps now I shall. Happy travels!

[Mike Aquino]

Wow, I totally missed that when I was at Jogja!

Is it anything like the Filipino bibingka? The variant with the egg sounds like it would have that same savory-sweet flavor I love about bibingka. Damn, I'm hungry now.

[Jarrett Wrisley]

Great post guys - those photos are remarkable - and they make me remarkably hungry.

[Takeaways]

Oh just wow, please post more about Indonesian food, growing up with it made me appreciate it but there are still many things unknown to me... this is one of them. I know where to go now next time I am in Indonesia.

[retro grrrl]

Looks really delicious.

[Ellen]

Wow, how beautiful these look! I just discovered your blog and look forward to reading it in the future.

[sarah & gan]

i love apam!! why can't i get it here in nyc...sob....

[Jollibee Food Corporation]

I never taste this one.My grandmother knows how to cook different Filipino delicacy.But this one is different.Thanks for mentioning.

-Ava

[vicong]

In Indonesia we called it Serabi, common snack for Javanese and Sundanese also they are still the best for serabi master :)

Another cake we called it apem, not the one that grilled like your photo here. I think apem in Indonesia is the steam one

[vicong]

Also I remember in Sundanese area (I think Javanese area too) a lot of traditional seller using serabi tray that made from clay not cast iron.