Kuih Gading Galoh
Gading Galoh or Putri Salat, sound unfamiliar? I believe these are the Nyonya and Malay names respectively for Kuih Salat or Serimuka which are more popularly called nowadays.
Usually when I made Kuih Salat, I left the rice white which is usually how the kuih is sold nowadays. This time I have done the marbling effect for the rice so I am calling it Gading Galoh since I believe this is how the traditional Nyonya version is done using the blue bunga telang extract.
This two layered rice ‘cake’ is extremely popular in Malaysia and Singapore. The base comprises of a layer of compressed glutinous rice (can be white or marbled with bunga telang extract) and the top is a layer of pandan flavoured coconut custard. The custard can be very soft or firm depending on personal taste. I prefer the firmer custard myself which is not as messy to eat because you can pick up the kuih without squashing the custard.
Since I tried out the colouring of the rice in my first ever making of Pulut Tai Tai, I wanted to try again because the colouring was not to my satisfaction, and the marbling was not too effective. The use of only blue colouring turned out too ‘metallic’ looking and it looked very artificial. I wanted to soften the colour this time and add some red pigment to the blue colour so that it is not as ‘jarring’ to the eyes as before. Of course all this could have been avoided if I could only get my hands on the bunga telang for its natural colour… Oh, well…
This time, the colour actually turned out very nice, a sort of mauve-magenta colour which is much more soothing to the eyes, don’t you think? I also changed the method of colouring the rice by soaking some uncooked rice in the coloured water before steaming rather than adding colour after steaming, and the marbling turned out much better too in my humble opinion.
Makes one 20cm kuih.
[Ingredients]
Rice:
1½ cups (300g) glutinous rice
bunga telang extract, or use 3-5 drops rose-pink food colouring combined with 1 drop blue food colouring, or adjust colouring to your liking
300ml thin coconut milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 banana leaf, softened
5 pandan leaves, tore along the length then knotted
Custard:
3 eggs, lightly beaten
175g caster sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt (optional)
300ml thick coconut milk
3 (35g) - 6 tablespoons (70g) plain flour *
1 (10g) - 2 tablespoons (20g) tapioca flour *
¼ teaspoon pandan paste
* Add less if you prefer soft custardy texture, more if you prefer solid, firmer texture
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Rice:
1. Rinse the rice, then soak 1 cup of the glutinous rice in plain water. Soak the remaining ½ cup glutinous rice in water coloured with the food colouring to get a mauve/indigo colour, adjust the colour to your liking. Soak the rice at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.
2. Line a 20cm square or round tin with softened banana leaf.
3. Drain both the uncoloured and coloured rice. Dissolve salt in thin coconut milk.
4. Spoon the uncoloured and coloured rice alternatively into the lined tin to create a marbling effect. Add seasoned coconut milk. Put the knotted pandan leaves on top.
5. Steam the rice in a wok for 25-30 minutes, or until rice is cooked. Remove from steamer, discard pandan leaves and use a piece of banana leaf or baking paper to press the rice to compress the rice.
Custard:
1. Combine eggs, sugar, salt and thick coconut milk in a mixing bowl. Add sifted plain flour and tapioca flour, beat in lightly to combine. Add pandan paste.
2. When the rice is cooked, remove rice from the wok then place mixing bowl in the simmering water (bain-marie style) and whisk continuously until the custard mixture is hot to the touch, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Pour the warm custard on top of the cooked rice base. Make sure the surface of the rice is moisture free before pouring in the custard so that the custard will adhere properly to the rice.
4. Steam over low gentle heat for about 1 hour, or until the custard is set.
5. Let cool completely before cutting into diamond shapes to serve.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Kuih-Muih, Teatime Treats
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Pulut Tai Tai
Of all the kuih-muih, I think my most favourite would have to be the glutinous rice based ones, top of the list would have to be Kuih Salat (a.k.a. serimuka), also fighting hard for first place would probably be Pulut Panggang, not far behind would be Pulut Inti.
Then again I may change my mind and list the three differently on a different day, hmmm, decision, decision, decision… Luckily it doesn’t really matter at all whichever order they come, because I love them all.
However I didn’t know about or came across Pulut Tekan when I was growing up. This colourful blue marbled rice kuih seems to be the lesser known of the glutinous rice based kuih-muih family. I first came across the name just a few years ago from cookbooks and recipes on the net. There is also some confusion as to its name. Firstly ‘Pulut Tekan’ which is its Malay name, meaning compressed glutinous rice. No problems there. But then comes its various other names – Pulut Tai Tai, Pulut Tartal, or even Gading Galoh.
Now what’s a man to do with all these names, I ask you? Could I just eat the kuih in peace without all the confusion please… ;) Anyway, from what little I can gather from some quick research, Pulut Tai Tai seems to be its Nyonya name in Penang, and it is served on the side with kaya; Pulut Tartal most probably is its Eurasian (Cristang) name from Malacca and Singapore, and it is served on the side with a white coconut cream sauce; and finally Gading Galoh, this one seems to be another Malay name for it, however the only recipe I found for it is that instead of serving the kaya or coconut sauce on the side like the previous two, a coconut custard is steamed directly on top of the glutinous rice, very similar to Kuih Salat, but distinct with its marbling of the rice using the blue bunga telang (butterfly pea flowers) extract.
Now that’s my takes on the different names with their slightly different serving styles. I don’t know if I’ve got it totally wrong with all these names, but if you do know anything, I would appreciate your thoughts on this matter.
OK, now with the names aside, let’s delve into the kuih itself. The basis of the kuih is the compressed glutinous rice which is marbled with deep blue or indigo colour from the bunga telang extract. Bunga Telang is butterfly pea flower (Latin name Clitoria ternatea) and it is used by the Nyonya and Malay to naturally colour the rice blue in the olden days, such as for making this and other kuih-muih, Nyonya dumplings and also Nasi Kerabu, a specialty of east coast peninsula Malaysia. Nowadays, from what I’ve read, the blue colouring used in commercially produced kuih-muih or Nasi Kerabu is mostly artificial colouring as to extract bunga telang is rather a time consuming task and a lot of petals are needed just to get a small amount of the blue dye. I’ve not been able to get my hand on this flower as yet, but I would love to try my hand in extracting its blue colour one of these days.
Closeup of bunga telang, or butterfly pea flower (Clitoria ternatea)
Photo courtesy of TopTropicals.com
There are various techniques in extracting the blue colouring from the flower. With fresh flowers, you just pound the clean flower petals (lots and lots of it) in a mortar and pestle into a paste and squeeze through a piece of muslin to extract the deep blue juice. With dry flowers, boil or soak them in hot water, then squeeze to get the blue dye.
As I didn’t have access to the real deal, I have resorted to artificial blue food colouring to make my Pulut Tekan. I served it with my recently made Nyonya Kaya, so it is now called Pulut Tai Tai… (BTW, anyone know what Tai Tai means?)
Makes one 20cm square compressed rice.
[Ingredients]
300g (1½ cups) glutinous rice, soaked at least 3 hours or preferably overnight
250ml thin coconut milk
50ml thick coconut milk
2 teaspoons sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
5 pandan leaves, tore along the length into 3-4 strips then knotted together
blue food colouring or blue colour extract from bunga telang, adjust amount to get desired blue colouring
kaya, for serving
banana leaf, blanched in hot water to soften
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Add sugar and salt to thin coconut milk, stir to dissolve then set aside.
2. Drain soaked rice in a colander. Lay a piece of softened banana leaf on the base of a 20cm square tin. Put in drained rice and level the rice, add seasoned thin coconut milk and knotted pandan leaves. With the handle of a wooden spoon, poke through the rice in a few places to make steam holes.
3. Place tin into hot steamer and steam for 10 minutes. Remove from steamer and fluff up to loosen the rice with a fork. Return to steamer and steam another 10 minutes. Repeat the procedure once again and steam for another 10 minutes. Remove pandan leaves.
4. Add thick coconut milk and steam 5 more minutes.
5. Remove from steamer, transfer hot rice to a large glass or metal mixing bowl, leaving banana leaf lining in tin. Drizzle drops of blue colouring randomly on the rice. Fork through the rice to create a marbling effect. (Alternatively, remove one-third of the rice and colour this portion blue then combined with the white rice to create a marbling effect.) Once the marbling is to your liking, return the marbled rice to the tin. Put another piece of banana leaf on top of the rice and press down evenly to compress the rice.
6. Place another tin right-side up (or a small flat plate) on top of the rice and put something heavy (such as a pestle and mortar, or some large tins of canned food) on top of it to weigh down the rice to further compact it while cooling.
7. Let cool completely, about 3-4 hours.
8. When cold, cut into slices and serve with kaya.
[Note]
Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.Labels: Kuih-Muih, Teatime Treats
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Peanut Pancakes (improved version) 麵煎粿
Peanut Pancakes (strong flour, direct proofing)After some more experiments after my last
attempts to find a recipe that produces good honeycomb structure in the pancake, I can say this is the closest I have come to of being able to taste it as I remember the texture a good Peanut Pancake should be – that is, soft in texture but still with a bite or chewyness (Q texture) to it, and of course that distinct faint smell of the alkaline water – well, that’s the type I grew up eating anyway.
This time, I did batches using sponge dough proofing method and batches using direct proofing method, I found it not too much of a difference, except maybe the sponge dough method producing a bit more stable honeycomb structure. So I will post the direct proofing method here as the sponge dough proofing method takes longer to make.
Then I tried with using different type of flour, low gluten to high gluten. Again not too much differences also, maybe with a more slightly, mind you just very little, chewyness as the gluten is increase. But it is very hard to tell without tasting them side by side as comparison though. Although this recipe I’m posting here is still not 100% as I remember the texture from back home in Malaysia, it is close enough for me to cure my craving for now.
Makes approx. 4 small pancakes of about 15cm diameter each.
[Ingredients]
Pancake:
150g plain flour (see Tip)
1 teaspoon instant dry yeast
35g (2 tablespoons) caster sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
200ml tepid water
2 eggs (at room temperature), lightly beaten
60ml (3 tablespoons) canola oil
½ teaspoon alkaline water 梘水
extra tepid water if necessary
Sesame Peanut Mix:
100g peanuts
25g white sesame seeds
50g caster sugar, or to taste
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Pancake:
1. Mix together flour, dry yeast, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Add in 200ml tepid water and stir to mix well. Put in a warm place, cover loosely with a piece of cling film, and let proof until bubbly and double in size.
Peanut Pancake batter after proofing, before adding eggs, oil and alkaline water
2. Once the batter is double in size, add lightly beaten eggs, oil and alkaline water (if alkaline water is not available, I think you can replace with ½ teaspoon baking soda dissolved in ½ teaspoon water – but I haven’t try this myself). Beat to mix in well. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before cooking. The pancake batter at this stage should be of pouring consistency. You can check when cooking the first pancake, the batter should immediately flow into a circle as soon as you pour into the pan. If it is too viscous and takes a little while to flow into a circle, mix another tablespoon or so of tepid water into the batter.
This is Crêpe Pan I used to make my pancakes
3. Heat a non-stick crêpe pan (top about 20cm diameter) until hot, pour a little canola oil into the pan then wipe over the surface with a piece of kitchen paper (paper towel). Pour about ½ cup (125ml), or more if you want it thicker, of pancake batter into the hot pan. Cover the pan with the lid and cook over medium to low heat for about 3 to 4 minutes (if you use bigger pan, you need to pour in more batter and will takes longer to cook), or until the top is bubbly and just set.
4. Spoon about 2 heaped teaspoons of Sesame Peanut Mix onto half of the pancake. Lift the other side of the pancake and fold over. Best serve hot or warm.
Sesame Peanut Mix:
1. Dry roast peanuts (in skin) over moderate heat in a frying pan for 5-8 minutes, or until fragrant and lightly brown. Cool, then skin the peanuts.
2. Dry roast sesame seeds in the same way for 3-5 minutes, or until fragrant and lightly brown.
3. Blend or ground the peanuts and sesame seeds into powder.
4. Mix in sugar and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
[Tip]
For a very slightly softer or chewy texture, although the difference in texture is really very little:
- replace plain flour with 125g plain flour + 25g tapioca starch (softer), or
- replace plain flour with strong (bread) flour, or add 1 teaspoon gluten flour to the plain flour (chewy).
Peanut Pancakes (plain flour + tapioca starch, direct proofing)
Peanut Pancakes (plain flour, sponge dough proofing)
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Asian Buns and Pancakes, Kuih-Muih
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Pulut Inti
Pulut Inti is a Malay snack very popular in Malaysia and Singapore.
It is basically coconut-flavoured glutinous rice topped with sweetened freshly grated coconut and wrapped in banana leaf.
I love this snack for its lightly salted rice in combination with its sweet topping! It is also quite easy to make. If you cannot get banana leaves, just serve it in a small bowl instead of wrapping it up, although you loose the fragrance from the banana leaf if done this way! As I find it too tedious to grate my own coconut, I have now used (unsweetened) desiccated coconut to substitute the fresh coconut, and it is not too bad a substitution! Because of this I have increased the amount of water to cook the filling in order to re-hydrate the dry desiccated coconut. Therefore if you are using freshly grated coconut, reduce the 150ml water in the filling ingredients to about half the amount.
Makes approx. 10-12 pieces.
[Ingredients]
300g glutinous rice
200ml coconut cream (thick coconut milk)
100ml water
1 teaspoon salt, or adjust to taste
2-3 pandan leaves, knotted
Banana leaves
Coconut Filling:
100g (heaped 1 cup) desiccated coconut
100g gula melaka (dark palm sugar), or to taste
150ml water
pinch (1/8 teaspoon) salt
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Wash then soak glutinous rice overnight in enough water to cover. Drain.
2. Cut banana leaves into 10 or 12 pieces of roughly 15 x 18cm (6 x 7 inches) rectangles, discard any stiff centre ribs. Blanch the leaves into boiling water for about 5 - 10 seconds to soften. Set aside.
3. Bring water in a steamer to a rapid boil.
4. Mix well the drained rice, coconut cream, water and salt in a 20cm baking tin. Put the knotted pandan leaves on top. Steam for 30 minutes, give the rice a vigorous stir after 15 minutes of steaming. Remove and cool slightly.
5. Coconut Filling: Melt gula melaka in water over medium heat. Add desiccated coconut and salt, cook until no liquid is visible, stirring constantly. Remove and cool slightly.
6. Fluff up the rice with a fork and divide roughly into 10 or 12 portions (about 1 1/2 heaped tablespoons each). Divide the Coconut Filling into 10 or 12 portions (about 1 heaped tablespoon each) also.
7. Place a piece of banana leaf on the beach, veins of leaf parallel to you. Place one portion of rice in the centre of the banana leaf, shape roughly into a rectangle shape. Place one portion of the Coconut Filling on top of the rice. Fold the top of the leaf down half way and fold the bottom up half way. Fold both overhang ends down underneath to form a parcel (see step-by-step images above).
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Kuih-Muih, Teatime Treats
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Peanut Pancakes 麵煎粿、滿煎粿
The Hokkien Peanut Pancakes (is it Hokkien? Not too sure… ) are one of the more popular kuihs of Malaysia and Singapore. I grew up eating these pancakes quite often.
They are usually quite thick, springy pancakes with beehive-like tunnels and each pancake is folded in half sandwiching a layer of delicious peanut sugar filling.
I have been trying to find the recipe for making these pancakes I grew up eating for quite a while now since I haven't been able to buy them here. I have tried a number of recipes without coming anywhere close to the texture I remembered them to be. Over the weekend I finally decided to do something about it. I made a whole lot of experimenting and after making 5 batches of the pancakes, finally producing something at least with honeycomb effects in the pancakes. Boy oh boy, am I now sick of eating them after craving for them for quite a while!
After making pancakes that were too sticky, too glutinous, too tough, too thick and most of them with no honeycombs, I was almost giving up the quest when finally the fifth batch gave me some hope. I cooked half of the batter and finally a hint of some honeycombs but the pancakes was a bit too thick and viscous. So I added more water to the rest of the pancake batter. Crossed my fingers and cooked a thin layer of that. It came out soft and when I cut it in half, voila, honeycombs, lovely honeycombs in the pancake… I was over the moon even though the texture was still not quite right as it was a bit too cakey, not springy (Q) enough for my taste. As the recipe still need fine tuning, I won't publish it for now. Let me have time to crave for them again and tinker with the recipe next time, then hopefully if the texture is right, I will post the recipe.
1. The sponge batter.
2. Sponge batter mixed with main batter and ready to prove.
3. After proving
4. The failed version on the left. The one on the right was after I added extra water to the batter and finally success with honeycombs!Labels: Asian Buns and Pancakes, Kuih-Muih
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Onde-Onde
Onde-Onde are glutinous rice balls filled with melted palm sugar, a snack that is very popular across Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.
Traditionally they are pandan flavoured rice balls made from glutinous rice flour, filled with dark palm sugar and rolled in fresh, finely grated coconut. However I prefer the other version using sweetpotato mixed with glutinous rice flour to make the rice balls, as this will help to keep the rice balls moist for a longer period. Having said that, I wouldn’t recommend keeping them for more than 24 hours though, as onde-onde are best served on the day they are made at room temperature. I have also changed to using desiccated coconut (these are unsweetened finely grated dry coconut) for coating instead of the freshly grated coconut since desiccated coconut are readily available. A note of warning though when you bite into these rice balls because the melted sugar filling inside might squirts or drizzles onto your cloth if not careful!
I like to make these palm sugar rice balls using the pandan and strawberry essence pastes to make them green and red, and these are especially festive during Christmas. For these batch however, I added a third flavour using the durian essence paste – a rainbow colour of onde-onde!
Incidentally, I usually do not use an exact recipe for making these onde-onde, since sweetpotatoes come in different sizes, and different moisture content. So what I do is to steam the sweetpotatoes, mash, then gradually add glutinous rice flour until a soft dough is obtained. Then just wrap with grated palm sugar, boil until cooked and finally coat with desiccated coconut. However in order to write this post up, I went and measured the quantities of the ingredients used so at least there is a definite measurement for future reference.
Makes approx. 21 rice balls.
[Ingredients]
250g peeled kumara (orange-flesh sweetpotato)
150g glutinous rice flour, or as required
pandan, strawberry and durian essence paste, or other essences of your choice
125g palm sugar (gula melaka), or adjust to taste
desiccated coconut, about 1 scant cup
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Peel the kumara and weigh to get 250g of flesh. Cut into slices and put into a shallow bowl, steam for about 20 minutes until soft. Mash the soft kumara, together with all the liquid accumulated in the bowl, with the back of a fork.
2. Grate the palm sugar and divide into 21 little balls of about 1 teaspoon each.
2. While still warm, add the glutinous rice flour to the mashed kumara and knead into a soft, smooth dough. You may need to add a little bit more glutinous rice flour if it sticks to your hand, or if it is too dry, add a little water.
3. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions. Add about 1/2 teaspoon of each essence paste respectively to the 3 dough portions, and knead the essence paste into the dough well. Divide each dough portion into 7 pieces. Before wrapping the filling, let the dough pieces cool down if it is still warm.
4. Wrap a sugar ball inside each dough piece and roll into a ball. If any sugar starts to leak out of the dough (it sometimes happens if the dough is still slightly warm when you start wrapping), just dip the crack in the dough into some extra glutinous rice flour and roll between your palms to seal up.
5. Bring a pot of water to the boil and drop a few dough balls into the boiling water, do not crowd the pot. Stir carefully to prevent dough balls sticking to the bottom of the pot. Cook until the balls float to the surface, about 5 minutes, then cook another minute or so to melt the sugar filling inside.
6. Place the desiccated coconut in a large plate. Use a slotted spoon to fish out the cooked balls and drop immediately into the coconut, making sure they don’t touch each other. Roll each ball to coat completely with the desiccated coconut. Shake to remove extra coconut and place the onde-onde onto a serving platter.
[Tip]
It is recommended you use the dark palm sugar that comes in cylindrical tubes from Malaysia or Indonesia. The one from Thailand that comes in discs and pale in colour has been refined, so is not as authentic.
[Note]
Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.Labels: Kuih-Muih, Teatime Treats
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Daikon Pudding 菜頭粿
The Daikon Pudding (I have used the Japanese name, ‘daikon’, rather than ‘Chinese radish’ or its various Chinese names, since ‘daikon’ is now the common
name for this vegetable in most western countries) is a popular savoury pudding served during the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) in the Chinese households, especially those from or descendants of South-Eastern China, as this pudding originates from Fujian (Hokkien) and Guangdong (Canton) Provinces. It is known as chai-tao-kuih (菜頭粿) in Teochew and Hokkien dialects, or loh-bak-go (蘿蔔糕) in Cantonese. In the Teochew/Hokkien dialects, daikon is ‘chai-tao 菜頭’ which rhymes with ‘rising fortune 彩頭’, therefore this pudding has become a symbol of prosperity for the Chinese.
The Cantonese version of the pudding is slightly different from the Teochew/Hokkien version in that Cantonese added extra ingredients like preserved meats and Chinese mushrooms in their puddings making them more substantial and flavourful; whereas the Teochew/Hokkien version is more subtle. Whichever versions you prefer, they are both usually cut into thin slices and pan-fry before serving. However in South East Asia, Teochew/Hokkien descendants serve this pudding in a different way, by stir-frying the steamed pudding with a variety of ingredients. I tried to find out how this came about and the closest I could come to as an explanation seems to be that the Teochew have a traditional stir-fried rice pudding (炒糕粿 or simply known as 炒粿) dish. My guess is that instead of the rice pudding, South East Asians use the Teochew/Hokkien daikon pudding instead to stir-fry the dish…… How’s that for my theory, hey? Hehehe… (If anyone do know anything about the history/development of this pudding in South East Asia, any inputs would be appreciated – for example, does anyone from outside of South East Asia stir-fry their Daikon Pudding?)
This is my version of the South East Asian styled Stir-Fried Daikon Pudding. There are two versions, one white (plain coloured), the other dark in colour. I personally have not tasted the white version, so I cannot comment on that. However the dark version is one of my favourite savoury snacks. This version is an adaptation of a recipe I hand-copied off a cookbook I borrowed quite a few years ago, unfortunately I did not note down the name of the cookbook or the author at that time, so it remains a mystery to me today. I have made a few changes to the original recipe – for example including dried shrimps and shallot in the pudding itself to provide a more flavourful pudding; and also reducing the liquid content to make the pudding slightly firmer as I found the original recipe of the pudding was too soft for my taste.
A note about the stir-frying part, lard is recommended as that is the traditional fat for stir-frying this pudding because lard gives it that special flavour that other fats/oils cannot compare (unless you have health concern that prevents you from consuming lard). In my opinion, it is worth it since I do not eat/make this very often, the most probably only two or three times a year, so might as well make the most of it. Lastly, since this steamed pudding is meant to be stir-fried with other ingredients before serving, the seasoning for the pudding itself is very mild – so if you want to serve the pudding simply by pan-frying only, serve them with soy sauce and/or chilli sauce.
[Ingredients]
Daikon Pudding:
500g daikon (Chinese white radish 蘿蔔), finely grated
125ml (1/2 cup) water
40ml (2 tablespoons) canola or corn oil
25g (2 tablespoons) dried shrimps 蝦米, soaked then pounded, reserve soaking liquid
1 shallot 紅蔥頭, peeled & sliced
A:
500ml (2 cups) water, include reserved dried shrimps soaking liquid
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
dash ground white pepper
B:
(Slowly pour water into rice flour and corn starch and mix into a batter)
360g (3 cups) rice flour 粘米粉
120g (1 cup) corn starch
625ml (2 1/2 cups) water
For Stir-Frying:
(Seasoning here is just a guide, please adjust to your taste)
lard for stir-frying
250g steamed daikon pudding, about 4 pieces of 8cm x 8cm x 1cm-piece
2 eggs
2 teaspoons dark soy sauce, or to taste
1 - 2 clove(s) garlic
2 teaspoons kecap manis (thick sweet soy sauce 晒油、甜醬油膏), or to taste
1 tablespoon chilli sauce, or to taste
1 tablespoon salted preserved radish (‘chaipo’ in Chines Hokkien 菜脯), chopped
1 - 2 stalks green (spring) onion, chopped
dash ground white pepper
fresh chillies for garnishing (optional)
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
To steam Daikon Pudding:
1. Put grated daikon and water in a saucepan and boil over medium heat for about 20 minutes until the daikon is soft. Remove and set aside, include all the liquid.
2. Heat a large saucepan, add oil and stir-fry the sliced shallot over medium heat until golden in colour. Add in pounded shrimps and stir-fry briefly until fragrant. Add in Ingredients (A) and bring to a boil.
3. Add in cooked daikon from step (1). Slowly pour in ingredients (B), stirring all the time, until the batter thickened. Remove and pour into a lined cake tin, level surface.
4. Steam over medium heat for about 1 hour, or until cooked through (test with a bamboo skewer). Remove and let cool completely – then chill, covered, in the refrigerator until ready to be used, it can be kept for one week in the refrigerator.
To stir-fry Daikon Pudding:
5. Heat a little lard in a wok and pan-fry the daikon pudding pieces until lightly brown and crisp on the outside. Push the pudding pieces to one side of the wok, add a little more lard and break in the eggs, scramble and mix in the pudding pieces. Add dark soy sauce, mix well.
6. Push the pudding pieces and scrambled egg to the side of the wok again, add more lard and fry the chopped garlic briefly, add kecap manis, chilli sauce, preserved radish and green onion. Mix in the pudding pieces, and use spatula to chop the pudding into bite-size pieces, stir-fry briefly to mix well. Add ground white pepper and dish into serving plate, garnish with fresh chillies if desired.
[Variation]
Pan-Fried Daikon Pudding – serve them with soy sauce and/or chilli sauce as desired.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Festives, Kuih-Muih
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Kuih Dadar
Kuih Dadar, also known as Kuih Ketayap or Kuih Gulung (also variably called Dadar Gulung) in Malay, is basically a Coconut Crepe Roll. The crepe is made with coconut milk
and flavoured with pandan. It is then filled with palm sugar coated coconut, rolled up and served with coconut sauce.
Traditionally of course these crepes are made using pandan juice to make them light green in colour. But since I have a number of different paste essences just waiting to be used, I thought they would colour up these crepes and now looking at those finished rolls, they do indeed look like rolls of colourfully dyed fabrics. I have included the recipe for the sauce to serve with Kuih Dadar, but I have not made it, so it is not tested.
A word about making these crepes – they must be cooked in a crepe pan (frying pan of 15 - 20cm diameter) to get the right-sized crepe. If not, the roll will end up too big with too many layers, which is not what you want! The crepe should ideally be thin, this will come down to experience as to how the right batter consistency should be to make that. For the first-timers, it might be better to make a slightly thicker crepe as it is easier to handle, but with experience, you should be able to judge for the right batter consistency to make thinner crepe. So happy kuih dadaring!
Adapted from the recipe ‘Kueh Dadar’ in ‘The Best of Singapore Cooking’ by Mrs Leong Yee Soo, published by Times Books International, 1988 (2003 reprint edition).
Makes approx. 10-12 rolls
[Ingredients]
Coconut Crepes:
110g plain flour, sifted
10g (1 tbsp) tapioca flour, sifted
pinch salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
125ml (1/2 cup) thick coconut milk
125ml (or more if necessary) thin coconut milk, adjust accordingly
1 - 2 tsp canola or corn oil
1 tsp pandan paste essence *
* Replace pandan paste essence with other essences for different flavours/colours if desired
Coconut Filling:
20g (1 tbsp) granulated sugar
100g palm sugar, grated
40ml (2 tbsp) water
3 pandan leaves
250g freshly grated coconut, or frozen is fine
1 tsp tapioca flour + 1 tbsp water to make slurry
Sauce for dipping or to serve with (optional):
1/2 cup thick coconut milk
1 1/2 cups thin coconut milk
1 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp rice flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
3 pandan leaves
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Coconut Crepes:
1. Put sifted flours and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in beaten eggs. Add thick coconut milk and part of thin coconut milk, mix with a wooden spoon or balloon-whisk until smooth.
2. Gradually add in enough of the remaining thin coconut milk, whisking all the time, until you get the right pouring consistency. Strain the batter. Whisk in pandan essence (or divide batter into a few portions and whisk in different essences separately). Leave for 1/2 hour before using.
3. Heat oil in a crepe pan (20cm or smaller frying pan). Swirl to coat then pour the oil into the batter and mix in. Wipe the pan with a paper towel to coat the surface evenly.
4. Pour in enough of the batter to cover surface of the pan with a thin layer. Swirl pan around quickly so the batter spreads as thinly and evenly as possible. Pour off any excess batter back into remaining batter.
5. Cook until the edges curl slightly upwards then remove to cool.
Coconut Filling:
Bring both sugars, water and pandan leaves to the boil until sugar dissolved. Add grated coconut, lower heat, stirring until almost dry. Add flour slurry and cook 5 more minutes. Remove and cool.
Sauce for dipping or to serve with (optional):
1. Pour 1/2 cup thin coconut milk gradually into both types of flour and mix well, set aside.
2. Bring the remaining 1 cup thin coconut milk together with salt, sugar and pandan leaves to near boiling point. Remove from heat and mix in flour mixture gradually, whisking all the time. Add in thick coconut milk.
3. Return to stove and allow to come to a simmer over very low heat, whisking until sauce consistency. Remove pandan leaves and let cool.
To make Kuih Dadar:
Fill each crepe with about 2 tablespoonfuls of Coconut Filling. Fold to enclose filling, then roll up like a spring roll. Serve with sauce if desired.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Kuih-Muih, Teatime Treats
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Kuih Bingka Ubi Kayu
Also known simply as Kuih Bingka, this is the Cassava or Fresh Tapioca Cake. The Malay name for cassava is ‘ubi kayu’ which literally translates as
‘woody yam’ and it is one of the major root crops in tropical countries, from South East Asia to Africa, and from the South Pacific Islands to South America, where it is also known as juca or yucca. In South East Asia, we usually use cassava in sweets or desserts, whereas in other tropical countries, it is mainly used as a staple.
By the way, to avoid confusion, it is generally accepted that ‘cassava’ is usually the term applied to the fresh tubers, and ‘tapioca’ the name given to its starch and other processed products. There are two main varieties of cassava being grown commercially, the bitter cassava which is used mainly by processing industries to produce starch and its other associated products due to its higher starch content; and the sweet cassava which is preferred for food for its taste and dough forming ability – it also ‘pounds’ well. But a word of caution, cassavas need to be cooked completely before consumption as cassava tubers contain linamarin (a toxicity) which can be removed by thorough cooking.
Kuih Bingka is one of the few baked kuihs of South East Asia as most kuihs are steamed rather than baked – oven being a western introduction to the east! It is also one of the simplest kuih to make as you only need to mix all ingredients together and bake to get the delicious result. The cake is glutinous and dense, but soft in texture and it is also enticingly golden in colour, another favourite snacks for the festive seasons!
[Ingredients]
500g grated cassava
250ml (1 cup) thick coconut milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
250ml (1 cup) sweetened condensed milk
60g butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 20cm round or square cake tin, line bottom with banana leaf or baking paper. If using banana leaf, rinse clean then soften the leaf by holding it over a flame or pouring boiling water on it, then cut to fit the tin. If using baking paper to line the tin, grease the paper also and dust with plain flour to prevent cake from sticking.
2. Mix all ingredients together. Pour into prepared tin.
3. Bake 60 - 70 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Cool.
[Tips]
1. When buying fresh cassava tuber, make sure it feels firm and have no soft spots; and the exposed parts should be white and not mouldy or have black spots. Any tubers that smell strongly of almonds should be avoided as they may be poisonous.
2. To peel cassava, scrub it clean and cut into short sections first. Then with a knife cut through and discard the thin papery brown layer as well as the fleshier pinkish layer. When grating, take care not to grate in the thin hard woody core in the middle.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Kuih-Muih, Teatime Treats
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