Recently, TasteAtlas website published a list of the 10 most delicious desserts in Southeast Asia, honoring the richness and creativity of the region’s cuisine. From Thai mango sticky rice, Indonesian banana cake, Malaysian pancakes,… each dish has the sweet taste of the tropics.
In particular, Vietnam contributed with jelly jelly as beautiful as a transparent flower, both cool and delicate. The dish is attractive because of its natural color and demonstrates the meticulousness and creative spirit of Vietnamese people in each layer of cool jelly.
Below are the 10 most delicious desserts in Southeast Asia:
Leche flan (Philippines)
Leche flan is a traditional Filipino dessert. Basically, this is a caramel custard cake made from milk, sugar and eggs, with vanilla flavor added to enhance the aroma.
Leche flan is very popular in Filipino parties, festivals and family gatherings. This dish is said to have been introduced to the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period, so many people believe that its origin lies in the border region between Spain and France.
Today, leche flan has become popular across the globe and is loved as a delicious snack.
Banana cake (Indonesia)
Fried bananas are a popular daily snack in Indonesia. This dish has many different variations. Among them, bananas can be fried directly in oil, but the most common way to prepare them is to slice them, dip them in batter and fry them until golden and crispy.
Depending on the region, fried bananas are also called by different names, such as “godoh biu” in Bali or “gedhang gorèng” in Java island.
Fried bananas, often sold at street stalls or carts, belong to the group of Indonesian deep-fried snacks. More elaborate versions of fried bananas are often sprinkled with powdered sugar, cinnamon, drizzled with chocolate or served with jam or ice cream.
Pancakes (Thailand)
The petite Thai dessert, often called pancake (pudding or cake), is made from a mixture of rice flour and coconut milk. To create this dish, people bake the flour mixture in large iron pans with small round grooves.
The processing process takes place in two stages: the crispy dough layer at the bottom and the fatty, lightly sweet coconut milk filling on top.
Ingredients often added to this egg cream filling include: sliced green onions, taro, corn or pumpkin.
Sticky rice cake (Indonesia)
These Indonesian rice cakes are made from glutinous rice flour, covering the palm sugar filling inside. The outer shell is usually green, dyed with pandan or dracaena leaves, then rolled in dried grated coconut, creating a fragrant, fatty taste.
Sticky rice cakes are often presented on banana leaves. When just made, the sugar filling inside is still liquid, so when enjoying, diners need to be careful to avoid it leaking out.
Sweet Fried Cake (Indonesia)
Odading is a famous sweet fried cake of Bandung city, capital of West Java province (Indonesia). This dish is made from flour mixed with yeast, sugar, milk and eggs are added, then rolled flat, cut into squares or rectangles and fried until crispy golden brown.
When finished, odading has a slightly chewy skin and is lightly crispy when cooled, while the inside is soft, spongy and breathable.
Odading is usually eaten hot, used as breakfast or snack and is popular at street vendors and small shops in Bandung. This popular cake became famous nationwide after a video spread online, jokingly calling odading “Iron Man’s bread”, causing consumption to skyrocket and bringing this traditional dish back to the Indonesian culinary spotlight.
Mango sticky rice (Thailand)
Traditional Thai mango sticky rice dessert is very popular. This dish is made from steamed sticky rice, then sprinkled with sweet and fatty coconut milk on top. Finally, the sticky rice is served with slices of fresh ripe mango.
The simple combination of sticky sticky rice, rich coconut milk and sweet mango has created a famous dessert around the world. Today, mango sticky rice can easily be found in most restaurants and food courts across Thailand, as well as many countries in Southeast Asia.
Fruit ice cream (Philippines)
Sorbetes is a famous Filipino ice cream, often made with many flavors such as: mango, chocolate, cheese, coconut and purple taro. Traditionally, this ice cream is made from water buffalo milk (carabao milk) and scooped into small balls placed on cones. Some Filipinos also like to eat it sandwiched between two slices of round bread, like a hamburger.
Sorbetes is a type of street ice cream that locals jokingly call “dirty ice cream,” because it is often sold along dusty streets. Today, visitors can easily find carts selling sorbetes everywhere on the roads of this country.
Pancakes (Malaysia)
Pancakes – a popular dish in Malaysia (also found in Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore), known by many different names. Depending on the region, the cake can be prepared in two ways: thin and crispy or thick and soft.
Traditional cake fillings often include a mixture of: ground or chopped peanuts, sugar and butter. However, in recent times, modern versions of pancakes have appeared with a variety of fillings, from corn, chocolate chips, raisins to grated cheese and condensed milk.
Jelly jelly (Vietnam)
Jelly jelly is a type of Vietnamese jelly cake made from agar (seaweed gelatin), coconut milk, condensed milk and flavors such as: coconut, banana, chocolate, mocha, vanilla. The texture of the cake is similar to panna cotta. Thanks to the use of agar agar, jelly is a great alternative for vegetarians who do not want to use animal gelatin.
This dessert can be found in many snack shops in Vietnam. In addition, dishes similar to jelly are also prepared throughout Southeast Asia and Indonesia.
Serabi (Indonesia)
Traditional Indonesian pancakes are small and very attractive, often made from rice flour and coconut milk. This dish is very diverse, there are both sweet and salty versions.
In addition to rice flour, pancakes can also be made from wheat flour and decorated with a variety of toppings such as sugar, bananas, crushed peanuts, jackfruit, chocolate, etc. In particular, modern pancakes are also created with ingredients such as meat, sausage and cream.
Serabi pancakes are a popular street food, often enjoyed with strawberry syrup, durian or kinca syrup made from coconut. This dish is not only delicious but also very convenient for those looking for a quick meal.
