My Humble Kitchen

Cucur Jawa (Javanese Fritters)

Here's an old favourite snack called Cucur Jawa, cucur basically means fritters and Jawa is Javanese. It's a dish from the Island of Java, I can safely assume from the name. The Javanese came over to Malaysia or what was Tanah Melayu (the Land of the Malays) as early as the 7th century, you can read about this here . My late father loved this dish, maybe it had something to do with his Indonesian roots, although his ancestors were from the Acheh Islands not Java.

Regardless of its origin, this dish has become part of the Malaysian fabric of great comfort food. I am just happy to have been blessed with a recipe that literally landed on my lap yesterday, I just had to try it when I saw how easy it was.

Ingredients:

250 gm plain flour

50 gm rice flour

100 ml hot water + 225 ml cool water.

200 gm brown sugar

50 gm raw sugar

1/4 tsp salt

3 blades of Pandan leaves (screwpine leaves)

Directions:

1. Add 100 ml of water into a pot with brown sugar and raw sugar and with pandan leaves knotted.

2 When the sugar water has boiled, add 225 ml of cold water and mix thoroughly, leave for a while to cool.

3 Add in flour + rice flour and salt in a large bowl and strain the sugar water into it and stir until just blended.

4 Put in a sealed container and leave overnight on your kitchen bench.

5 Heat oil in a wok until 2/3 full until oil is hot, but not smoking.

6 Stir the mixture that was left overnight, spoon the mixture into a small ladle and pour in the middle to form a round cake.

7 The mixture will float and the oil will bubble, turn when the bubbling receeds (after about 40 seconds. You can tell the mixture and the heat is right when the middle of the fritter is raised and the lips are formed (see above picture).

8 Remove and drain.

9 Ready to be served.

Great snack for afternoon tea and we actually dip this in our hot tea or coffee. Enjoy!!