Tukang Putu Bambu

You can only find Tukang Putu Bambu after the dusk. They usually will walk around the neighborhood with their carts until late at night, and you can tell directly when they pass in front of your house from the special sound comes out from their steam.

I believe that some of you are already familiar with the name of Putu Bambu because it's a quite well known snack also in Singapore and Malaysia.

Sometimes, I got confused with the origin of the food because some food in Indonesia are the same in Malaysia. So, again like the cendol drink, I made a little research and found out that Putu Bambu is originally an Indonesian traditional snack (source: wikipedia/kue putu). The famous Putu Bambu is from Medan (capital city of North Sumatra - Indonesia).

So, what is Putu Bambu?

Putu Bambu is steamed cake made from rice flour and filled with aren sugar (palm sugar) in the middle of it then steamed in bamboos.

The empty bamboos ready to be used. Coconut and the grater.

The process of making Putu Bambu.

Steam for about 5 minutes.

While steaming, the vendor prepares the banana leaf, then after the Putu Bambu has been steamed for 5 minutes, he uses a long stick to push the Putu Bambu out from the bamboo case.Adds grated coconut mixed with salt for the final touch.

Putu Bambu has soft and cottony texture with wonderful sweet fragrance from the palm sugar and banana leaf. The best time to eat Putu Bambu when it's still warm.

1 Putu Bambu costs Rp. 1.300 ( about US 15 cents).

Some of the vendors also sell "Kue Lupis" which is made from glutinous rice and grated coconut wrapped in banana leaf before being boiled for about 4 hours, It's eaten with brown sugar sauce.

There're also "Klepon" and "Cenil".

Cenil is made from cassava starch (tapioca) and water plus red food coloring, boiled and then served with grated coconut and sprinkle white sugar.

Klepon is small balls made from glutinous rice flour and filled with brown sugar, the green color is from suji leaf (cat's claw leaf) then rolled into grated coconut and salt.
Whenever I eat klepon, I will put the whole one ball of klepon into my mouth. I love the sensation when I bite it, the brown sugar will pop inside my mouth, so fun and yummy..... hehehe...