babungku — South Kalimantan, Indonesia

Babungku is a steamed cake from South Kalimantan, made of a soft rice flour and coconut milk dough wrapped around a filling of palm sugar and grated coconut, and shaped into small cones using folded banana leaf as both wrapper and mold. It is reported from the Banjar community of South Kalimantan, where sources describe it as a market and household snack served alongside other steamed rice cakes found in the wider region, though detailed written accounts of its background remain limited. To prepare it, a soft dough of glutinous rice flour, coconut milk and pandan is spooned into banana leaf cones in layers around a chopped palm sugar and coconut filling, then the cones are closed and steamed upright until the dough sets and cooks through. What distinguishes this cake from other steamed rice cakes in Indonesia is its cone shape, built directly from the banana leaf wrapper rather than a separate mold, and the way the palm sugar filling is folded into the center of the dough rather than mixed all the way through it.