Pandan leaves are common and accessible in Malaysia. This tropical plant with pointy leaves that gives out a gentle, sweet, soothing aroma can be a secret ingredient in your next cuisine, and it may even help you to save some packaging cost. Its health benefits are impressive as well! Pandan is an excellent source of vitamins and antioxidants.
Stay with us and learn about 4 smart ways to use pandan leaves to have some added convenience and speciality to your food service business.
Pandan leaves have been called the “Vanilla of Southeast Asian”. The most common practice is to tie a pandan leaf into a knot and to boil with rice to take in that sweet aroma along – our proud national rice dish, Nasi Lemak is made with a similar method!
They have also been used as main ingredients in certain pastries and snacks such as the pandan layer cake that is specifically flavored after these fragrant leaves. Regent Pandan layer Cake in Klang has been famous for this since 1977! Other delicacies such as kaya and onde-onde have been made especially with pandan leaves’ flavors in mind.Here’s another creative dish that can potentially inspire you – Yellow Brick Road’s Peter Pandan featuring pandan pancakes, caramelised and fresh jackfruit and other toppings that will leave you coming back for more. Don’t be afraid to incorporate pandan in your menu!
Like tea, boiling the leaves of a flavorful plant boasts out their flavor into water, and pandan leaves are no different! Pandan water is actually an extremely refreshing thirst quencher, quite simply boiling them in water then straining through a cloth is enough to make a refreshing yet sweet beverage that can be kept for more than 3 days without going bad! Perfect for serving to guests as a welcome drink without high additional costs. Feeling adventurous? Be like Zus Coffee, who serves Pandan Coconut Latte which has a strong taste of pandan along with a shot of espresso, milk and coconut cream. Whether you use extract or fresh pandan juice, either way would help leave your guests impressed.
Ever seen bags of cut and dried pandan leaves at the back of taxis or a bus? They’re actually still pandan leaves that are being used as an air freshener. It’s no surprise that pandan leaves smell good, but their natural fragrance is actually stimulating enough to clear off any foul air nearby, quite simply cut them into smaller square pieces and let them sit comfortably in a bag or on a plate to knock off any bad scents nearby. If you are serving dishes using pandan leaves as ingredients in your restaurants, use these leaves as natural fragrance too in your premise or in the washroom!
Pandan leaves are also used as a way to package food. This brilliant food packaging is great for the planet, while enhancing and preserving the flavour of the food at the same time. The most commonly seen example of such packaging can be found on popular kuih such as tepung pelita. This TikTok video has also shared the way to wrap Ketupat in pandan leaves if you are not able to find Daun Palas!
Learn also from BrickOven, a restaurant that uses pandan leaves as a way to uniquely store and deliver pizza to their customers. By crafting their own packaging out of material grown from the ground up, they save costs from buying cardboard as well as selling off a unique and eco-friendly method that may hopefully inspire other restaurant owners to do the same as well!
With such unique methods of using pandan leaves, it’s time for you to be creative and incorporate them into your restaurant or food service business!
Ajinomoto Food Biz Partner
