Wadai Kipeng (or Kepeng) is a traditional dessert from the Banjar community in Malaysia. It is primarily made up of small concaved discs, made with glutinous rice flour, served with a thick sauce made from coconut milk and sugar. The Banjar people are known to enjoy sweet food and thick sauces. In Banjarese language, ‘wadai’ means ‘sweet snack’, while ‘kipeng/kepeng’ refers to pressed/pinched pieces.

To make Wadai Kipeng discs, glutinous rice flour, water and salt are mixed together into dough. The dough is then turned into tiny dough balls. Next, the tiny dough balls are flattened and pinched in the middle. The discs are then cooked in a sweet sauce made from coconut milk, pandan leaves, sugar (palm sugar or brown sugar), salt and water. When the discs are cooked, they will become soft and chewy, and the sauce will become viscous like porridge from the remnant glutinous flour on the discs.

To add some flavour variations to Wadai Kipeng, some people add jackfruit pieces or durian pieces to the sauce. Some people also choose to add some food colouring during the dough mixing stage to add interesting colour to the discs.

Back in the day, it was traditionally practiced by the Banjar community to plate up Wadai Kipeng on their Thanksgiving ceremony. Now it is a dish enjoyed any time of the day. Wadai Kipeng is quite similar to Javanese people’s Bubur Candil and Kelantan’s Bubur Biji Nangka.