Hello everyone, this is Julie. 

Today I will introduce a food called Putu Bambu. It's a delicious food, or you can call it a snack, that is hard to come by in Indonesia now. Putu Bambu, just like it's name, was made inside a bamboo. The texture was soft and it's a bit delicate, so if you're not careful, it might break into two. The taste was so delicious that when you realize, you've eaten more than three already.

The secret of the taste is called "gula aren" or "gula melaka" in Malay. This sugar originated from Aren Palm, with scientific name as Arenga Pinnata. 

Ingredients:
250g Rice Flour
250g Grated Coconut (Kelapa parut)
100g Soft Aren sugar (gula aren/palm sugar)
200ml water
1/4 tea spoon salt for grated coconut
1/2 tea spoon salt for putu dough
2 leaves of pandan leaves
adequate pandan paste/green food coloring (optional)

How to make Putu Bambu:

1. Mix the grated coconut with salt, then stir evenly. Steam for 15 minutes. Remove and set aside, let the hot steam disappear and cool down.

2. Cook water with salt and pandan leaves until it boils. Remove it, then let it cool down. Add pandan paste/green food coloring adequately. (But if you don't use it, that's okay)

3. Once it has cooled down, then add the pandan water little by little into the rice flour while continuing to stir. If you feel that using a spatula is too difficult, you can use your hands. But don't forget to wash your hands clean. Let's stir the mixture until it is grainy like sand. Once mixed, then strain/sieve it so that it'll produce a smooth/soft/fine grains.

4. Prepare a small mold (you can use bamboo if you have one, or you can use a cupcake mold or other mold you have). Put banana leaves on the base of the mold. And to make it easier to remove from the mold, grease the mold with a little oil.

5. Add half of the putu cake mixture. Then add aren sugar in the middle. Cover it again with the putu mixture. Don't press the dough because that will make the texture dense and less soft. Do this until all the ingredients are used up.

6. Heat the steamer, steam the putu cake for 20 minutes.

7. Remove it from the mold. If it's still difficult, you can use a small knife. But if your mold is made of plastic, the cake will come out easier.

8. Serve with grated coconut. This cake is delicious to eat when it is still warm and has just come out of the steamer. Don't keep it outside for too long, because the texture of the cake will become drier.

That's it! Enjoy your Putu Bambu!