Kuih Sarlat

hmm... so many of my cyber friends have been making kuih sarlat and so have I, just that I do a little cheating with the help of my microwave.

Have been meaning to post this recipe ages ago, but with work and holidays and what else, just did not get down to it. Then I promised some ladies (we were meeting for dinner) that I would make some, so took the opportunity to take some pictures and refresh my memory on how to make it. hehe

This is actually my mum's recipe but being me and being lazy, here is my method - using the microwave!

Ingredients:

Bottom Layer

• 400 g glutinous rice
• 40-50 blue pea flowers bunga telang (soak in 100 ml water)
• 250 ml santan (150 ml thick coconut milk with 100 ml water)
• 1 tsp salt
• Pandan leaves optional

Custard Layer
4 eggs
4 tbsp rice flour
150 sugar
400 ml coconut milk
1 tbsp plain flour
1/2 tsp salt

Method:

BOTTOM LAYER

1. Wash glutinous rice to remove excess starch and soak for at least 2 hrs
2. Wash about 20 -30 dried flowers and steep in 100 ml of water
3. After water has turned dark blue, let it stand before squeezing out 100 ml dark blue water
4. Add 100 ml water to 150 ml thick coconut milk to make 250 ml thin santan
5. Add 1 tsp salt to thin santan and mix well
6. Drain out the water from the soaked glutinous rice
7. Lightly spray a 24 cm round pan with oil
8. Transfer drained glutinous rice into pan
9. Arrange some pandan leaves (optional)
10. Pour the thin santan (coconut milk) all over
11. Ensure the rice is thoroughly covered by the thin santan
12. Place pan of rice in a steamer and steam for 30 mins.
13. Thereafter, remove pandan leaves
14. Fluff up the rice; and pour blue pea flower water (in patches) over it. Check if rice is soft. If not, add more coconut milk and steam for another 15 mins.
15. Remove pan from steamer and press the rice flat until it is well compressed.
16. Set it aside

CUSTARD LAYER

1. Break eggs in bowl and beat slightly. Add sugar, both flours and coconut milk and mix till lump      free. Add pandan paste.
2. Pour into saucepan and cook until it looks slightly curdled. Turn off heat.
3. Put sieve over previously set rice. Pour semi liquid into sieve and press through. Wrap steamer lid with cloth and leave the lid slightly ajar by placing a chopstick in between lid and steamer (to achieve a smooth surface for the kueh)
4. Steam over medium heat for another 45 mins till custard is cooked.

Kuih Lapis

Kuih Lapis



This is a belated post. Made this on Christmas eve as we were invited to Christmas lunch at a friend's place, so I thought I would make this and have this as a local dessert! My friend is a Sarawakian and husband English, so the children have all eaten this before one time or another. After lunch was over and when it came to desserts and when I took this out, everyone went oo-ing and ah-ing as they had not had it for a long time. And the surprising thing is my friend's granddaughter loved it as well!



Ingredients:

150g rice flour
15g mung bean flour
15g tapioca flour
400 ml coconut milk



For the syrup
150g castor sugar
150ml water
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pandan paste or green colouring
A few drops red colouring



Method:
1. Combine sugar, water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Strain and set aside to cool.
2. Put rice flour, mung bean and tapioca flours and salt into a large mixing bowl. Pour in coconut milk and    mix well.
3. Stir in syrup.
4. Strain the batter to ensure it is free from lumps.
5. Divide the mixture into 3 bowls and add the colouring of your choice. In my case, it was pink, green and plain.
5. Place a greased 8 inch tray in the steamer and heat up for 4–5 minutes.
7. Pour a ladleful of the plain batter on the heated tray. Cover and steam over medium heat for 5–6 minutes or until set.
8. Next a ladleful of the pink batter over the plain layer and steam covered for 5 minutes.
9. Next with the green and repeat the procedure, alternating white, pink batter and green until all the batter is used up. Lastly, the final layer which is red. (Add a little more colouring to the pink to get it a darker colour)
10. After the final layer is set, steam the kuih for a further 12–15 minutes. Halfway through open the lid to release the steam, then cover again until the end of the steaming process.
11. Cool the kuih thoroughly before cutting into small diamond-shaped pieces

Steamed tapioca kuih

Steamed Tapioca Kuih

I love my tapioca cooked any way and I have 2 other friends who are also crazy about tapioca too and one of them made some bo bo cha cha and that led me to crave for it. But when I looked in the freezer, I discovered that my stash of yam was depleted. Huh... so much for that!

And since I have a few packets of frozen, grated tapioca or cassava as they are known here, thought I would make a steamed kuih. I was going to make the pasar malam kind which is the fried version but on second thoughts, steaming would be a healthier version, hence...

It is a very simple kuih to make. All you need are:

Ingredients:

450 gms grated tapioca - put half quantity in a muslin cloth and squeeze out the liquid
80 gms caster sugar - more or less to taste
100 ml coconut milk - do not add all at once
half grated coconut - white bits only - steamed with some salt for about 5 minutes
food colouring

Method:

1. Place the tapioca and sugar in a bowl. Add the coconut milk.
2. Add colouring
3. To test for consistency and sweetness, place a little on a plate and steam for about 10 mins.
4. Add more sugar or coconut milk as you like and place the whole mixture into a cake tin or in my case, I used a pyrex bowl and steam for about 20 - 30 mins.
5. When the mixture is cool, cut into squares or diamonds and roll into grated coconut.

Enjoy!

Ondeh ondeh

Ondeh Ondeh

Made this ondeh ondeh some time back and have not posted it and when S asked me for the recipe, thought it was time that I did so now.

Ingredients:
Approx. 200 gm sweet potato
100 gm glutinous rice flour
50 - 60 ml hot water
green colouring (if using)

Filling:
75 gm gula melaka (chopped)
1 tbsp castor sugar

Method:
1. Steam sweet potatoes till soft, then peel skin and mash.
2. Mix in the glutinous rice flour and colouring and add water gradually until you get a fairly stiff dough.
3. Flour hands well and knead dough until smooth.
4. Divide dough into equal small portions.
5. Press with fingers to flatten the balls and fill with gula melaka mixture. Shape it back into a ball.
6. Drop a few at a time into boiling water and when the balls float to the surface, take them out and leave to cool.
7. Lastly, roll in grated coconut.

I left them uncoloured!

Bought this from ebay and it grates coconut nicely, so no need to use dessicated coconut and putting it in the food processor does not work too well either!

Kueh Kosui

Kueh Kosui
After so many years of not making kueh kosui, my mum suddenly forgot the measurements for it and asked me to give it to her. I will disgress a bit from this post to tell you about my mum. (Be prepared for long post!)
Mum will be 81 this year but she is still strong and unlike other old ladies, she still has friends asking her to make mee siam or buah keluak or kuehs for parties or whatever. Like last year when I was back in December. Our church had a Christmas Treat - it's a yearly affair and there are food stalls, etc and it's all in the name of charity. So, my mum offered or they asked her to make mee siam to sell for this Fun fair. And it was a good thing that I was there cos there was no one to help her this time as a friend who normally does went for retreat!
So left the house at 6.30am with 4 big bags and a big sauce pan. Can you imagine how she was going to do it if I wasn't there?! So anyway caught a taxi and went to Church. Arrived at Church and whilst retriving one of the many bags, a trolley bag fell over and the kueh sarlat that she made to sell as well which wasn't tightly closed, went flying onto the road. Aiyo, so sayang but what to do. But what made me even more incensed was that this lady who saw this just said "Aiyo sister, sayang hor that it fell out" and went on her way. Not even stopping to help us to carry the bags! Call yourself a Catholic and going to Church! Hmm.... sorry I know I shouldn't judge but ..... Anyway, to continue, set up things, etc and even before the last Mass was over we had finished selling. We had a lady there to help us man the stall but she had to leave at 1200. And at 1200 another lady came to help out but we told her that we had finished and my mum told her that she made (I can't remember the quantity now) so much and the lady said "oh next year, then you can make more!" OOh, ooh.. wrong thing to say, I got so pissed off with her comment and said, "And ya, who is going to help her carry the stuff from her house to Church?" And the lady said, "Oh if you tell us, we will" - oh yes, like someone will come to her place at 0630 in the morning to help her carry the stuff. PULEASE!!!! Anyway luckily my mum told me that she won't be doing it again next year as it was too troublesome.

Sorry for this long blab.... you guys still here? Anyway, back to Kueh Kosui - she has like monthly or weekly church meetings and she will make snacks to bring, so she wanted to make kueh kosui.

This is a recipe from Corner Cafe.but I have modified it slightly. Thanks SeaDragon!

[Ingredients]
A:
50g tapioca starch
30g rice flour
125ml water
1/4 teaspoon alkaline water (lye water)
1/8 teaspoon salt
B:
75g palm sugar (gula melaka), roughly chopped
45g white granulated sugar
170ml water
3 pandan leaves, torn 3-4 times along leaf veins & knotted together
C:
100g freshly grated coconut, or frozen grated coconut
1/4 teaspoon salt
http://cornercafe.wordpress.com/
[Preparation]
1. Prepare a 15cm round steaming tray or baking pan and grease lightly with cooking oil.
2. To prepare (C), mix together grated coconut and salt. Steam over high heat for about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. To prepare (A), put tapioca starch and rice flour in a mixing bowl. Slowly add water, stirring at the same time to mix well. Stir in salt and alkaline water *. Set aside.
4. To prepare (B), put all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a slow boil over moderate heat, stirring continuously to dissolve the sugars, about 5 minutes.
5. Pour hot sugar syrup slowly into the flour mixture. Stirring continuously to mix evenly into a thin batter. Strain to remove pandan leaves.
6. Place prepared pan into the steamer and steam until hot.
7. Pour the batter into the hot pan in the steamer and stir until the bottom of the batter starts to set, about 2-3 minutes. Stop stirring and cover the steamer. Steam over high heat for about 15-20 minutes, or until set*.

*
Notes:
1. As I couldn't find any alkaline water, I omitted this and it turned out ok.
2. Before pouring the batter into the hot pan in the steamer, I put it into a microwavable bowl and nuked it for about a minute until it was very sticky then poured it into a pan and steamed it for about 10 mins.

Kueh Sarlat

Kueh Sarlat

Was experimenting with the kaya topping for kueh sarlat. Hence you see more topping than rice.

Kueh Lopez

Kueh Lopez

The next few weekends will see me making various kuehs as a sort of experiment to see if they work well using the mw. As you all will have gathered by now, I like to cook, but also I like to find the quickest way of making them as well. Actually this applies to work as well, but I am digressing here. hehe.

So last night soaked 1  cup glutinous rice as I wanted to make some kueh lopez.

This morning, drained the rice, then coloured it a little bit green but only found out later(from Liana) that it is meant to be yellowish and not green. Who cares as long as it tastes good and is edible right? Anyway to continue... As I didnt want to waste the rice if the MW method didn't work, I just put about 1 cupful of the rice into a big soup bowl and added water to more than cover it and nuked it for about 5 mins. Took it out and stirred it and looked ok, then put it back in for another 5 mins again. If the water has dried out and the rice is still not soft, slowly add in a little bit at a time and mw it till the rice is soft. It has to be slightly softer than your normal cooked glutinous rice.

The put it on a big piece of cling film and made it into a triangle and moulded it. Other internet sites tell you to put the cling film into a nescafe cap and mould it into a round shape.

Remove from the cling film, cover with grated coconut and pour melted gula melaka over it and serve.

If you want to do it the traditional way using banana leaf, it is like making bakchang where you shape the leaf into a triangle and add the uncooked rice and put it into boiling water for about 30 mins until it is soft.

Puttu Mayam

Puttu Mayam

This is a back dated post. Made this on Sunday. Just felt like making it. Made this a couple of years back when I got my colleague in India (previous company) to buy a muruku maker. This little gadget is quite useful. It comes with a few attachments.

Liana says it does taste like the real thing. hehe. Don't know if there are many places in Singapore still selling it. One place I think that still does it the Indian stall in Ghim Moh market. If you go looking for it, bear in mind that this is a breakfast item.

Ingredients:
200 gm rice flour
1/4 tsp salt
350 ml boiling water (more or less)
orange sugar
grated fresh coconut (skin removed)

Method:
1. Steam rice flour for 5 mins.
2. Remove from steamer and add salt and boiling water and stir till it forms into a soft dough. Using a puttu mayam mould, put the dough into the mould.
3. Squeeze out the dough moving in a circular motion.
4. Steam the puttu mayam over high heat for about 10 mins.
5. When cooked, remove from heat and eat, served with sugar and grated coconut.

Fried Tapioca Kueh

Fried tapioca kueh

Had a craving for the pasir malam type fried tapioca kueh



Ingredients:

250 gm grated Tapioca
150 gm sugar
60 gm plain flour
125 gm grated coconut (without skin)
5 gm pandan juice
green colouring paste/liquid
3 tbsp water

Method:
1. Mix grated tapioca with sugar together in a mixing bowl.
2. Add pandan juice an a drop of green colouring.
3. Sieve flour into the bowl with the grated tapioca and stir. Add in the grated coconut and mix well.
4. If the mixture looks wet, no need to add water but if the mixture looks dry, add a tbsp of water at a time to get a dropping consistency.
5. Heat oil in a pan and when hot,drop a tablespoon of the mixture into the oil and flatten it. Fry using low fire.
6. When the underside is brown, turn the pancake over and cook again till the other side is brown.
7. Remove and serve.

Kueh Bingkar Ubi Kayu (Baked Tapioca)

I love tapioca cooked any way, so today decided to take a packet out from the freezer and bake it.

Kuih Bingkar Ubi Kayu (Baked Tapioca)


This recipe is from Leelee's blog but I have modified it.

Baked Tapioca cake

Ingredients:
500gm grated tapioca
30 gm castor sugar
100 gm gula melaka (palm sugar)
30 gm melted butter
2 eggs slightly beaten
200 ml of thick coconut milk
100 ml of thin coconut milk

Method:
1. Lightly butter sides and bottom of a 9 x 9 baking tray. I used a pyrex container.
2. Dissolve gula melaka and castor sugar with 100 ml of thin coconut milk. Sift and set aside.
3. Mix all other ingredients into a mixing bowl. Pour the sifted sugar mixture in and mix well.
4. Cook in microwave oven for 10 mins at a time till mixture thickens. Pour it into the prepared tin.
4. Bake it in a pre-heated oven at 190C for about 30 mins until the top is brown.