Chap Goh Mei Dessert – the festive Nyonya Pengat, creamy, coyly sweet soupy dessert sets the tone for a night of courtship and romance.
The fifteen full moon night of the Lunar New Year is also known as the Lantern Festival.
After weeks of feasting, the Chinese community will end the final night of the celebrations with aplomb.
The morning of Chap Goh Mei starts with traditional Nyonya Pengat, with prayers offered to the ancestors and the deities at home.
After prayers for good fortune and blessings, the family would gather for a meal and finish with a bowl of sweet Nyonya Pengat.
Pengat is a popular Nyonya sweet soupy dessert cooked with coconut milk, often mistaken for Bubur Cha Cha.
The main ingredients may seem similar, but the two desserts are different.
A variety of tubers is included – Sweet Potato in different colors, the flesh can be white, yellow, orange, or purple, and Taro or Yam.
One has golden skin with creamy white flesh and a crumbly texture.
The essential component of Pengat is the inclusion of bananas.
The ONLY type of banana suitable for Pengat is Pisang Raja.
Other types of bananas used as a substitute wouldn’t taste as nice.
The Penang Baba Nyonya have a sweet tooth and love a creamy sweet Pengat.
It must be “Cukup Santan or Cukup Lemak” (Malay for enough thick coconut cream) and equally sweet.
Although Pengat can be made any time of the year, the Penang Baba Nyonyas enjoy this sweet broth dessert, especially on Chap Goh Mei, the 15th and final day of the Chinese New Year.
As tempting as it looks, I think one bowl would suffice for me! How about you?
Contents
Chap Goh Mei Dessert Nyonya Pengat Recipe
If you ask the old Nyonya, they are fussy with what the Pengat recipe calls for.
It is not Bubur Cha Cha, and mind you; it is never served with shaved ice!
The ratio of ingredients you add to the Santan broth with desserts may vary.
You can control the thickness and sweetness of the coconut milk to your liking.
With Pengat, the broth is heated but not boiled until “Pecah Minyak” (Malay: until the oil breaks).
In a nutshell: Pengat is a medley of sweet potatoes (in yellow, orange, and purple color), yam (taro), black-eye peas, and bananas cooked in a sweet coconut milk base.
Cut into diamond shapes and steam each type of tuber separately.
Each tuber should take only 5-7 minutes.
Simmer the Coconut Milk with knotted pandan leaves and a lot of sugar.
Add the steamed tubers and the cut bananas.
Delicious Chap Goh Meh dessert: Nyonya Pengat with bananas, black-eyed peas, and tapioca jelly.
How To Make Tapioca Jelly for Nyonya Pengat
Ingredients
100g tapioca flour
1-2 drops of food coloring (red, green, blue)
Instructions
- Pour hot water into tapioca flour in a bowl and stir with a chopstick to form a translucent mass.
- If the dough is too sticky, add more tapioca flour. If too dry, add more hot water.
- Once cool, knead until combined and free of lumps. The mixture forms a smooth dough.
- Divide the dough into three portions.
- Add 1-2 drops of food coloring to the three dough portions.
- Knead the three sets of dough until the color is uniformly incorporated.
- Put some tapioca flour on the board.
- Roll out into desired thickness and cut into desired size and shape.
- Sprinkle tapioca flour over the cut pieces to prevent them from sticking.
- In a pot, boil some water. Shake off excess flour before putting the cut flour pieces.
- Scoop out once the pieces float to the surface. Immediately dunk the cooked pieces into cold water.
- Leave cooked pieces inside the water.
- Scoop to add in Nyonya Pengat before serving.
Delicious Chap Goh Meh dessert: Nyonya Pengat with black-eyed beans, tapioca jelly, and bananas in syrup.
How To Pepare Tubers for Nyonya Pengat
Root Tubers Cut Into Diamond Shapes
• 100g yellow sweet potato
• 100g orange sweet potato
• 100g purple sweet potato
• 200g taro
• 3 Pisang Raja
• Black-Eyed Pea
Method
1. Skin and cut the potatoes and taro into diamond shapes.
2. Wear gloves when cutting taro because your hands will get itchy from the sap.
3. Arrange them in a steaming tray. Steam until all are fully cooked.
4. Once done, leave to cool.
How To Prepare Black Eyed Peas for Nyonya Pengat
Method
1. Soak black-eyed pea beans for 4 hours or overnight.
2. Cook with water, just covering the beans.
3. Check the water level once until the beans are fully cooked to the desired doneness.
4. Drain and set aside.
How To Prepare Santan Broth for Nyonya Pengat
• Water
• 2-3 pandan leaves, split into two, then tied into a knot
• 1000ml coconut milk (from one coconut)
How To Bananas for Chap Goh Mei Nyonya Pengat
1. Cut the banana slanting into 2cm slices.
2. Boil a bit of water in a pot, sufficient to cover the banana slices.
3. Add sugar and knotted pandan leaves.
4. Once boiled, add the banana slices.
5. Allow it to boil for about 5 minutes. Leave to cool.
How To Cook the Chap Goh Mei Nyonya Pengat
1. Boil water in a big pot.
2. Once the water boils, add sugar, adjusting according to the desired sweetness.
3. Add the cooked sweet potatoes, taro, and tapioca flour pieces.
4. Bring contents to the pot to boil for another 5 minutes, and add the coconut milk.
5. Add in the banana slices right before turning off the heat.
6. Do Not overboil the broth as it will Pecah Minyak.
7. The Nyonya Pengat is ready to be served.
Indulging in Nyonya Pengat dessert for breakfast on Chap Goh Meh.
We wish you a Happy Chap Goh Mei With the Happy Feasting of Nyonya Pengat!
Today is the full moon day of the first lunar month, marking the celebration of Chap Goh Mei for the Chinese community.
Traditionally, families would gather for another round of harmonious reunions and aspirations for a happy and peaceful year ahead.
SmartDory and Friends wish everyone a joyful and meaningful celebration with goodwill and generosity.
Happy Chap Goh Mei and enjoy your Nyonya Pengat Dessert!
