A leaf with no fixed address

Known botanically as Pandanus amaryllifolius, fragrant pandan is thought to have originated in the Moluccas, or Maluku Islands, in Indonesia. It is considered an ancient cultivated plant and is rarely, if ever, found growing wild. It is also largely sterile, meaning it is propagated vegetatively through suckers or cuttings rather than through seeds.

In other words, pandan travelled with people.

It spread across tropical Southeast Asia and beyond, becoming deeply embedded in the cuisines of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. The names change depending on where you are, daun pandan in Malaysia and Indonesia, bai toey in Thailand, lá dứa in Vietnam, rampe in Sri Lanka.

Same leaf. Different passport stamps.

The vanilla of the east

Pandan is sometimes called the “vanilla of the East”, although its aroma is actually doing something much more interesting.

It is sweet, grassy and floral, with a warm, almost toasted quality. One of the key compounds behind that distinctive aroma is 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, the same compound that plays an important role in the aroma of fragrant rice such as jasmine and basmati.

That explains why pandan and fragrant rice have such a familiar relationship.

In the kitchen, pandan is rarely there to dominate. It is more of a quiet multitasker.

Tie a few leaves into a knot and drop them into a pot of rice. Steep them in coconut milk. Add them to desserts. Use the extracted juice to flavour cakes and sweets.

It works a little like a bay leaf, except instead of making everything taste savoury and aromatic, it brings a softer, sweeter fragrance.

And then there is the colour.

Fresh pandan leaves can be crushed and blended to produce a naturally vivid green extract, which is widely used as both a flavouring and colouring agent in Southeast Asian cooking.

So that very specific pandan-green you keep seeing in Southeast Asian desserts?

Not necessarily food colouring. Quite often, it’s the leaf.

More than a kitchen ingredient

andan has never been particularly interested in staying in one category.

Across Southeast Asia and South Asia, the leaves have also been used in traditional household and ethnobotanical practices, from scenting homes and clothes to traditional remedies and preparations. In Sri Lanka, for example, rampe is a familiar aromatic ingredient used alongside curry leaves in everyday cooking.

There are also traditional uses involving teas and preparations for things such as headaches, fever and joint discomfort. These belong to the world of traditional medicine rather than established medical treatment, but they say something interesting about the plant: pandan was never confined to dessert.

It was simply useful.

Follow the Leaf

One of the best ways to understand pandan is to follow it across Southeast Asia.

Malaysia & Singapore

In Malaysia and Singapore, pandan is closely associated with kaya, the rich coconut-and-egg spread that gets generously applied to toast, often alongside butter.

It also perfumes rice dishes and shows up in a range of traditional kuih.

Then there’s pulut tai tai, the Peranakan glutinous rice cake often served with kaya. Its striking blue colour comes from butterfly pea flowers, while pandan contributes its characteristic fragrance.

Basically: pandan does the perfume, butterfly pea does the colour.

Indonesia

In Indonesia, pandan gets particularly good at dessert.

Klepon are small glutinous rice cakes coloured and flavoured with pandan, coated in grated coconut and filled with palm sugar. Bite into one and the green exterior gives way to a burst of warm, liquid sweetness.

Then there’s es cendol: coconut milk, palm sugar, ice and those unmistakable pandan-flavoured rice-flour jellies.

Hot climate, cold dessert. Indonesia understood the assignment.

Thailand

Thailand uses pandan across both sweet and savoury cooking.

It appears in desserts such as bua loi, where pandan can flavour the rice dumplings and coconut-based broth, and in khanom chan, the distinctive layered Thai dessert.

Then there is gai hor bai toey, chicken marinated and wrapped in pandan leaves before frying.

The result is fragrant, savoury and very much proof that pandan does not need sugar to make sense.

The Philippines

In the Philippines, pandan is especially at home with coconut.

Buko pandan combines young coconut, pandan-flavoured jelly and a creamy dressing, usually served chilled. Pandan also appears in a variety of rice cakes, desserts and drinks.

It’s sweet, cold and creamy.

Vietnam

Vietnam turns pandan into something almost architectural.

Bánh da lợn is a steamed layered cake made with ingredients such as rice flour, tapioca starch, coconut milk and mung bean or taro. Pandan provides the characteristic green layers and fragrance.

The result is soft, slightly chewy and very photogenic, long before anyone had decided that food needed to be photogenic.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is where pandan steps firmly out of the dessert aisle.

Known as rampe, the leaves are used as an aromatic ingredient in curries, rice and other savoury dishes, often alongside curry leaves.

Which is perhaps the easiest way to understand pandan: it isn’t really a “sweet ingredient” or a “savoury ingredient”.

It’s an aromatic one.