Kueh Ko Swee (Kuih Kosui)

Knock knock!

Who's there?

Kueh hamba!

Kueh ham . . .  who?

Kueh hamba, aka kueh ko swee and kuih kosui!

I think very few people have heard of kueh hamba. I certainly hadn't until I came across the unusual name in Cooking for the President.

Did you know "hamba" means slave?

Hmm . . .  slave cake . . . .

Next time there's a party in the office, why not have some slave cake. Know what I mean?

Kueh ko swee is half and half tapioca starch and rice flour sweetened with gula melaka and sugar.

A bit of lye gives it bounce and bite, and pandan leaves add a subtle fragrance.

Freshly grated coconut enhances the texture, colour and taste.

If you like, you can use some brown food colouring or black treacle to darken the kueh. The contrast between white and dark brown makes the kueh quite pretty.

The batter for kueh ko swee has to be cooked on the stove till quite thick before it's steamed.

The original recipe uses a water-bath but I don't. Provided the heat is very low and I whisk very vigorously, the batter doesn't turn lumpy. Cooking over direct heat takes only a few minutes; with a water-bath, it'd be maybe 20 minutes. The thickened batter is then steamed. Just 10 minutes would do, so kueh ko swee doesn't take long from start to finish.

I used to think making Nyonya/Malay kueh was very difficult. Then I discovered kueh bengka ubi which was as easy as a cake mix. That gave me the confidence to try other recipes, so my repertoire of kueh-kueh is growing. I stick to the easy ones though, like kueh ko swee. If, like me, you want a kueh that's not too challenging, "slave cake" is a good choice. Here's my video to make it really easy:

KUEH KO SWEE, AKA KUIH KOSUI (STEAMED PALM SUGAR FUDGE) Source: Adapted from Cooking for the President (Recipe for 25 pieces) 250 ml water 4 young pandan leaves 50 g dark brown palm sugar 40 g sugar 45 g tapioca starch 45 g rice flour ⅓ tsp orange lye 160 ml water ½ tbsp black treacle, or ¼ tsp brown liquid colouring 150 g grated fresh coconut, without peel ⅛  tsp salt 4 young pandan leaves Bring 250 ml water, pandan leaves, palm sugar and sugar to a boil. Simmer gently, covered, for 5 minutes. Turn off heat. Discard pandan leaves. Whilst simmering, whisk tapioca starch, rice flour, orange lye and 160 ml water till smooth. Pour batter into sugar solution. Add black treacle or brown food colouring. Whisk till smooth. Turn on heat, very low. Whisk vigorously. Once whisk feels heavy, turn off heat immediately. Keep whisking vigorously till residual heat dissipates. Batter should now be just thick enough to form thick ribbons when whisk is lifted. If not, turn on heat again and whisk as before. Scrape batter into 15 x 15 x 5 cm cake pan lined with parchment paper. Wet spatula and smooth top of batter. Steam 10 minutes over low heat. Remove from steamer. Leave till cool. Sprinkle grated coconut with salt. Mix evenly. Place pandan leaves in middle of coconut. Steam 10 minutes over high heat. Discard pandan leaves. Remove from steamer. Leave till cool. Cut kueh into 25 pieces with scissors. Dredge in grated coconut till thoroughly coated. Serve as snack or dessert, sprinkled generously with grated coconut.

Sambal Stingray (II)

The key to making good sambal stingray is a piece of stingray wing that's fresh and young.

There's nothing more disgusting than stale fish . . . . Ok, there are lots, actually, but you know what I mean. The best fish for eating is one that's still swimming. If that's not available, then at least one that's firm, shiny, and hasn't stopped swimming for too long.

Other than the DOD, the DOB is also crucial because younger fish have smoother, silkier meat. How do you tell if the wing you're buying is young? From the size. Young ones have small, thin fins. And small fins are cut triangular. If you see a thick, rectangular piece, that'd be from an old fish with huge fins.

If you've living somewhere where tropical ingredients aren't available fresh, I have good news for you. The banana leaf for sambal stingray is better frozen. Fresh ones burn easily under the grill but after freezing and thawing, the waxy leaves tolerate much higher temperatures.

Once you've bought the ideal stingray wing, it's time to tackle the sambal. If you've had sambal stingray before, you'd know the chilli paste makes or breaks the dish. How to make a good one? By using the best ingredients and patiently frying the spices over low heat. You also have to adjust the seasoning because the ingredients vary in taste. Not all belachans are equally salty fragrant; some shallots are quite tasteless, others intensely aromatic.

The best sambal stingray is barbecued over charcoal. I skip this part this part, I'm afraid, and turn to electricity. You, I'm sure, would let nothing stand in the way of perfection. Your stingray is juicy and moist inside, slightly charred outside, and full of the smoky aroma of charcoal-grilled fish.

Hmm, I don't think I'm saying anything you don't already know. Well, sambal stingray is pretty straightforward in theory. It's all in the execution, isn't it?

Please click here for the recipe.

Kuih Bingka Ambon

Knock knock!

Who's there?

Honeycomb cake!

Honeycomb cake who?

Honey, come quick! The honeycomb cake is delicious!

Silly knock-knock joke out of the way, let's get down to the serious business of baking, shall we?

Kue bika Ambon (which means baked Ambon cake in Indonesian?) hails from Medan, not Ambon. The cake is also found in Malaysia where it's called kuih bingka Ambon, and Singapore where the Malay name has been corrupted to kueh bengka Ambon.

Ambon cake is made with tapioca starch, eggs, coconut milk, sugar and yeast. Coconut milk spoils easily, so the batter can't be fermented for too long. 2½-3 hours would be about right. Longer than that, the coconut milk is no longer fresh. Shorter than that, you'd need to add more yeast which, if excessive, leaves an unpleasant yeasty taste in the cake.

The coconut milk is heated before it's added to the batter. The heat melts the sugar, helps the coconut milk stay fresh, and speeds up the fermentation.

If you want a yellow cake, you may add a few drops of yellow food colouring. Alternatively, use eggs that have brightly coloured yolks, such as Seng Choon brand if you live on the island where I live.

The batter must have lots of bubbles after it's fermented. If you don't see any, don't bother baking it.

Traditionally, kuih bingka ambon is made in small pieces using a brass mould heated over charcoal. Of course, nothing should stop you from the noble act of upholding traditions. Meanwhile, I bake mine using the oven, in a cake pan. (I'm weak and feeble, I know.)

If the heat for baking the kue/kueh/kuih/cake is too low, some of the eggs would separate from the tapioca starch, resulting in a layer of custard forming on top of the cake. The separated starch sinks to the bottom where it hardens without forming honeycombs and, taking too long to brown, becomes leathery on the outside. If the heat is too high, OTOH, the cake would shrink badly when it's removed from the oven.

Baked at the right temperature, the cake would have beautiful honeycombs and a soft chewiness from top to bottom.

Kuih bingka ubi is very similar to kuih bingka Ambon except it's made with grated tapioca instead of tapioca starch and it's not leavened. Much as I like kuih bingka ubi, I think kuih bingka Ambon is even nicer because the airy honeycombs allow the coconut milk and sugar to brown better. See the golden colour on the top, sides and bottom of the cake? It's sugar and coconut milk caramelized to perfection. If that's not delicious, I don't know what is.

The most crucial question is: how easy is it to bake a cake full of honeycombs? Hey, it's real easy when you have my video:

KUIH BINGKA AMBON (KUE BIKA AMBON; AMBON HONEYCOMB CAKE) Source: Adapted from The Best of Singapore Cooking (Recipe for 8 pieces) 85 g sago or tapioca starch ¼ tsp salt ½ tsp instant yeast 145 g eggs 170 g undiluted freshly squeezed coconut milk 85 g sugar 20 g young, light green pandan leaves My recipe is different from other kueh ambon recipes in three ways: it doesn't use a starter dough; it has much less yeast; and the coconut milk is hot rather than at room temperature when it's added to the batter. The extra heat speeds up the fermentation, so there's no need for a starter dough or huge amount of yeast. Thoroughly mix tapioca starch, salt and dry yeast. Add eggs and whisk till smooth. Stir coconut milk with sugar over medium heat till slightly hotter than hand-hot, i.e. pot is too hot to hold but not too hot to touch. Stir batter and, at the same time, slowly pour coconut milk into batter. Wash pandan leaves and cut into small pieces. Pound finely and strain to yield 1 tsp pandan juice. Discard pulp. Add juice to batter. Mix thoroughly. Set aside, covered, till batter is full of small bubbles, 2½-3 hours if you're in the tropics. Loosen starch in bottom of bowl and stir till just evenly mixed. Preheat oven to 160°C with only bottom heat turned on. Oven should be ready at the same time as batter. Line 15 x 15 x 5 cm cake pan with 25 x 25 cm parchment paper. Pour batter into cake pan. Bake in bottom of oven till batter doesn't jiggle when shaken, about 35 minutes. Increase temperature to 180°C. Turn on top heat. Move cake to middle of oven. Continue baking till golden brown, another 15 minutes or so. Remove from oven. Unmould by lifting parchment paper. Leave cake on wire rack till cold. Cut into 8 pieces and serve.