The much touted caramel sauce is good with everything. Now try it with a Malaysian twist, our very own flavourful and earthy Gula Melaka!When making salted caramel sauce, it is important to note that the quality of the salt makes all the difference. I like to use fleur de sel (a hand-harvested, top-layer salt, originally from the marshes in Brittany and expensive like hell) as its mineral complexity is higher than normal cooking salt. However, if fleur de sel is too extravagant, any flaky sea salt (not refined table salt) would do a good job too. The difference between using sea salt and synthetic table salt is that due to the lower dissolution property of the former, the saltish flavour blooms on the palate as a lingering aftertaste rather than a flat-out salty experience with the latter.
I have experimented adding our local Gula Melaka to the salted caramel sauce and the result is an even more amazingly fragrant concoction that’s bound to win many fans.
Serving: will yield about 600ml of sauce
Difficulty: Easy
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
50g chopped gula Melaka + 20ml water
200g sugar
200g unsalted butter
200ml thick cream
1-2 tsp sea salt
Method:
1. Melt the chopped Gula Melaka in a pot over low heat and slowly add in the water as the Gula Melaka melts, stirring all the time. Once the Gula Melaka has been completely dissolved, leave the syrup to cool.
2. Cook the sugar in another pot over medium heat, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon. As the sugar melts, it will tend to crust, therefore it is important to keep stirring. When sugar has melted and the mixture startsturning golden, lower the heat to prevent it from burning too quickly.
3. Once the liquid sugar has turned a golden brown hue, add in the butter. The mixture will splutter and boil – remove pan from heat and continue stirring until the butter has completely melted.
4. Place pot back over heat and slowly pour in the cream. Stir mixture continuously until the sauce turns shiny and smooth.
5. Pour in the melted Gula Melaka syrup and mix well.
6. Lastly, sprinkle in the sea salt (adjust quantity according to personal preference), stir well and remove from heat.
7. Once the sauce has cooled down, store it in glass jars.The sauce keeps very well in the refrigerator and can last for weeks.
* Suggestions on servings:
• Drizzle over vanilla ice-cream
• Spoon over onto warm banana or fruit cakes
• Spread onto warm toast
• Spread onto pancakes
• Spread onto roti canai
• Spread in between layers of sponge cake and drizzle onto top layer
The above are just some suggestions – this sauce goes well with almost anything, whether sweet or savoury – just let your imagination and creativity go wild!
**If you'd like to share your recipes with other cooking enthusiasts, send them to [email protected].
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