Malay Pancake (Lempeng)

The food which I am going to introduced is Malay Pancake. It is known as “Lempeng” in Malay language. “Lempeng” is a kind of pancake, which is specially made by the Malay communities. Therefore, it is considered as a traditional Malay food and also listed in the Malaysian food heritage.

The ingredients and procedure for making a Malay Pancake (Lempeng) will be shown below. I am going to discuss and compare the online recipe and actual recipe of Malay Pancake.

ONLINE RECIPE

I found an online recipe from a blog which are written by a Malay woman.

Based on the online recipe which I have found, the ingredients that are needed to prepare a Malay Pancake (Lempeng) are flour, salt, water and butter / oil / margarine.

The portion of the ingredients for making one Malay Pancake

-One cup of flour

-One cup of water (same volume as the flour)

-Half tea spoon of salt (depends on how salty you want)

-Butter

Procedure

(1) Combine the four ingredients that are prepared together in a mixing bowl.                        The four ingredients mentioned are one cup of flour, one cup of water, butter and salt.

(2) After mixing the ingredients, stir them until they mix uniformly.

(3) After complete stirring the mixture, put some butter / margarine / oil on the pan and heats until it boils.

(4) Pour the mixture to the pan in a round shape like the picture shown below.

(5) When one side of the pancake is cooked, turn the pancake to another side.

Note: The dish can be served after the pancake is fully cooked, you can cook more than one pancake at the same time.

ACTUAL RECIPE

I interviewed the people who knows how to make the Malay Pancake in order to get the actual recipe for making a Malay Pancake. The way to make a Malay Pancake is easy. Besides, the ingredients and procedure for making a Malay Pancake based on the online recipe and actual recipe is more or less the same. 

I got the recipe from TryMasak and shows it at below. The ingredients that are needed to prepare the Malay Pancake are wheat flour, water, egg, sugar and salt.



The Potion of the Ingredients

-2 cups of wheat flour

-2 cups of water

-1 egg

-1 tablespoon of sugar

-A pinch of salt 

Procedure

(1) Prepare a mixing bowl and combine the ingredients step by step.

(2) Pour two cups of wheat flour inside the mixing bowl.

(3) Pour a pinch of salt into the mixing bowl that contains the wheat flour and stir them together.

(4) Pour the water into the mixing bowl slowly and stir the mixture.

(5) Pour 1 tablespoon of sugar into the mixing bowl and stir the mixture.

(6) Pour the egg that is prepared into the mixing bowl and stir the mixture until they mix together uniformly.

(7) Put some oil on the pan to prevent the mixture stick on the pan.

(8) Pour the mixture into the pan.

After one side is cooked, turn it to another side. It can be served after it is fully cooked.

Next, I am going to compare the differences between online recipe and actual recipe.

The Differences between Online Recipe and Actual Recipe

The ingredients and the portion for the ingredients of online recipe and actual recipe are almost the same except for some of the ingredient and steps.

Firstly, the actual recipe does require an egg to cook a Malay Pancake (Lempeng) but the online recipe doesn’t. In the online recipe, the egg is stated as an optional ingredient; it is depend on the personal taste and preferences.

Secondly, the actual recipe requires sugar but the online recipe doesn’t. Therefore, I think there is a slight difference of the taste between the Malay Pancake of online recipe and actual recipe.

Next, the steps for making the Malay Pancake have a little bit different too. For the online recipe, all the ingredients can be pour together and to be stirred in one shot. However, for the actual recipe, the ingredients need to be mixed together step by step.

These three are the differences between the online recipe and actual recipe that I have found. The major differences is on the availability of the ingredients only.

In terms of the culture and region, there is not much difference because Malay Pancake (Lempeng) is mostly prepared by the Malay communities and to be consumed in the households.

In terms of skill level, the way to make a Malay Pancake is really easy so the skill level is not a major concern. As long as you follow the procedure and get the correct ingredients, you will be able to cook a Malay Pancake (Lempeng) successfully.

For the budget and time constraint, as mentioned before, the way for making a Malay Pancake is easy, it will not occupy much of your time as you grasp the technique. The ingredients such as wheat flour, sugar and salt is not costly or cheap and easy to be purchased. Therefore, budget is also not a problem.  

Changes of Malay Pancake (Lempeng)

As time passed, people have generated many ideas to make the Malay Pancake taste even more better. The taste and preferences of the people nowadays is the major factor that change the food heritage. People tend to pursue something that is more special. Therefore, there are many types of Malay Pancake available now such as Banana Malay Pancake (Lempeng Pisang), Coconut Malay Pancake (Lempeng Kelapa) and Malay Pancake with Malacca's sugar (Lempeng Gula Melaka).

There are many flavours for Malay Pancake available. However, people can still create a new type of Malay Pancake by adding some flavour or special ingredients. The changes of food heritage is to cater with the preference of the communities.

Extra Information

For the people who are not from Malaysia, Malay Pancake is listed in the Malaysia food heritage because of its uniqueness. It is different from the English Pancake in form of the apperance, ingredients and also procedure. 

These two pictures show the differences on the appearance of Malay Pancake and English Pancake.

For your extra information, the Malay Pancake is normally served with the "Sambal" (home-made chili by the Malay communities). If you want to have a taste of Malay Pancake, you can visit the the place such as night market in Malaysia.

Thank you.