Here’s a sweet treat for the end of the day. I’ve got a soft spot for Asian desserts and these little putu piring from Malaysia are impossible to resist.

‘Putu’ is a generic Indonesian-Malay word for the dough and ‘piring’ means plate.  The mix of rice flour, grated coconut and flavourful palm sugar are lightly compressed into little patties and steamed for a few minutes.  The origins of the dessert is thought to be southern India.

This putu piring maker was snapped in the bustling Chow Kit Market on a recent visit to Kuala Lumpur.