Kuih Kodok

Kuih Kodok (21 January 2018)


Kuih Kodok is a deep fried local delicacy made of batter and mashed banana. Also known as chorkodok or mashed banana fritters, it is often available at hawker stalls selling goreng pisang (or in Malay, pisang goreng) and other deep-fried fritters. The difference between kuih kodok and goreng pisang is that the latter uses unmashed bananas. The kuih kodok is round in shape with rather rough surface, an appearance reminiscent of the toad from which it got its name (kuih kodok means "toad kuih" in Malay.)

At home, my wife makes excellent kuih kodok, something I realised when our kitchen was filled with its aroma. It is a perennial joke in my house that the kuih kodok look like roasted rats in batter. Just take a look at photos of it below.

Kuih Kodok (21 January 2018)

Kuih Kodok Recipe

The Ingredients


The Steps

The above kuih kodok was made by my wife on 21 January, 2018, using some leftover bananas (I am not sure what type they were) lying about the house. They tasted fantastic fresh out of the hot oil. If only I can encapsulate the aroma and share with you, you would know what I mean. Knowing that my in-laws would love to have some of these, we apportioned out some, and brought over to my in-laws' place. It was served to my father-in-law and my mother-in-law.

As soon as my mother-in-law took a bite of it, she remarked, "You added self-raising flour to the batter, right?"

Well, yes, my wife did. But that was not how my mother-in-law liked her kuih kodok. She preferred the traditional method using just plain flour, and no added self-raising flour. Honestly, I have no idea what that would taste like. Nevertheless, my wife was unperturbed, and decided she was going to make kuih kodok again.

So the very next day (yesterday), she went to the market early in the morning, and to her delight, she found a hawker selling pisang masam, a type of banana that she loves, but had not seen for decades. She described it as having a "sweet and soury taste". Up till then, I have not known of pisang masam, and was a bit hesitant whether I would ever enjoy banana that is described as "soury". Later yesterday, she came home with the banana, opened the paper bag and let me have a feel of the aroma. Wow, pisang masam has a most pleasing aroma, stronger than many other types of bananas.

Pisang Masam (22 January 2018)


I tried one of the pisang masam and found that it was really good. It is not as sweet as pisang emas, my favourite type of banana, but does have a pleasing taste to it.

This morning, my wife used some of the pisang masam to make kuih kodok again. But this time, she made two batches, one without self-raising flour, specially for my mother-in-law, and the other with self raising flour. You can see them below. The one on the left is without self-raising flour.

Kuih Kodok (21 January 2018)


Can you tell the difference? Okay, the one without self-raising flour has a rougher texture, while the one with self-raising flour is puffier and more rounded. Let me show you each of them one by one below.

Kuih Kodok without self-raising flour. (21 January 2018)


Kuih Kodok with self-raising flour. (21 January 2018)


Which do I like more? Well, the one with self-raising flour! It is puffier, and in my opinion, tastes better. But since my mother-in-law liked it the traditional way, without self-raising flour, my wife made it her way to satisfy her.

Kuih kodok tastes best with coffee black (or black coffee), without milk or sugar. The sweetness of the kuih kodok goes so well with the taste of unsweetened coffee. And that's what I had this morning. Lovely.

Kuih Kodok (23 March 2013)


Kuih Kodok (23 March 2013)

List of Nyonya Kuih

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About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.