Ang Ku Kueh (紅龟粿; Kuih Angkoo)

I've just made some 紅龟粿. Is it good? Heheheh . . . heh . . . . Is your mother a woman?

It's my virgin attempt but the results are as good as the best store-bought ang ku kueh in town. The mung bean filling is uber smooth, has a very strong "beany" fragrance and isn't too sweet. The "skin" is very chewy and yet very soft. I tell ya, this 紅龟粿 is really to die for.

I'd like to think my kick-ass AKK is because of my brilliant culinary talent and all that. But the truth is the success is due to the excellent recipe from none other than Cooking for the President. I just followed the instructions (more or less).

C4P's dough recipe is quite unusual. The ingredients are roughly the same as other recipes but the method is very different. First, glutinous rice flour is combined with water and then refrigerated overnight. Second, coconut milk is cooked with rice flour, oil and sugar into a paste before it's mixed with mashed sweet potato and the wet glutinous rice flour. Other recipes don't have these two steps. Instead, the ingredients are just mixed together.

I think the extra work in C4P's method is the key to the chewy and soft "skin", which is so good I shan't bother to try other recipes. It doesn't get better than this, seriously.

What about the mung bean filling? That's less complicated compared to what it's wrapped in. It's not rocket science but a lot of people get it wrong. Why? Because of their obsession over cutting down as much fat as possible. Compared to other recipes, there's a lot of oil in C4P's filling. The amount is absolutely necessary to give the mung bean paste its velvety smoothness and strong fragrance, without making it overly rich.

I've made 紅龟粿 all of one time but, hey, I already have quite a few tips for conquering the traditional kueh. Here we go:

Don't soak split mung beans for too long. The longer the beans sit in water, the more flavour (and nutrition) they lose. An hour is ample, IMO. C4P says three hours, which might be ok. Some recipes go for an overnight soak. That's definitely too long.

A lot of recipes, including C4P's, have the soaked mung beans steamed. I think boiling is better because it's faster but you mustn't discard the cooking liquid which has heaps of flavour. Instead, let the beans boil dry. That allows the flavour released into the water to be absorbed back into the beans. The same argument applies to the sweet potato used for the dough.

How good the mung bean filling is depends on, besides the quality of the beans, how much sugar and fat there is. If there's too little, that means it has more water to get the right consistency. Water doesn't taste of anything and it dilutes the flavour of the beans. Sugar and fat, OTOH, enhance the flavour.

How long does it take to steam 紅龟粿? No time at all because the filling is cooked and the dough is very thin and partly cooked. The ones I make, which are pretty small, take about six minutes over low heat.

How do you know when the ang ku kueh is done? When it expands a little. If you continue steaming beyond that point, the dough becomes too soft, resulting in a flat, collapsed kueh without any distinct motif. To lower the risk of overcooking, 紅龟粿 should be steamed over barely simmering water.

The shell of a real tortoise is hard but the make-believe tortoise's shell needs to be propped up. The "supporting role" is played by the filling which must be able to hold its shape when it's hot. If it's too soft, the "tortoise cake" would flatten into a pancake once it's heated.

The ideal filling to dough ratio is 1:1. The capacity of my mould is 40 g, so I wrap 20 g of filling in 20 g of dough. C4P actually uses 27 g of dough for 20 g of filling. That would make the "skin" a bit too thick, methinks.

How do you find the mould's capacity? Put it on your kitchen scale, tare, then fill it with water. The weight of the water multiplied by 1.33 is the mould's capacity.

To reheat chilled ang ku kueh, bring some water in a rice cooker to a boil. Put the kueh in the pot, on the steaming tray. Cover and switch the cooker to warm mode. Ten minutes would be just right.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself using my new wooden mould. I felt very authoritative (!) whacking it against the chopping board – TWACK! and out came a perfectly formed ang ku kueh, like magic. I'll definitely make AKK again but it won't be anytime soon 'cause it's a hell of a lot of work . . . . Oh hang on, what am I saying? It's a hell of a lot of FUN, not work! I'm making AKK again this weekend . . . I think . . . .

ANG KU KUEH (KUIH ANGKOO; 紅龟粿) Source: Adapted from Cooking for the President (Recipe for 21 pieces) Filling 160 g skinless split mung beans 115 g sugar 80 ml peanut oil Dough 60 g young, light green pandan leaves wash and chop roughly 60 g undiluted fresh coconut milk 2¼ tsp rice flour 1 tbsp peanut oil 2 tsp castor sugar 1 medium-sized yellow sweet potato (aka yam in the US, I  think) wash and peel; slice 110 g ½ cm thick 150 g glutinous rice flour mix evenly with 125 ml water; refrigerate overnight, covered banana leaf scald in hot water; drain and blot totally dry; cut into 21 pieces each slightly bigger than your AKK rice flour, for dusting peanut oil, for glazing If you prefer red AKK, you should: (1) use an orange instead of yellow sweet potato; (2) omit the pandan leaves for the dough; (3) add red food colouring instead, enough to get a shade of red that's significantly darker than what the AKK looks like when it's cooked (the colour fades a fair bit when heated); and (4) cook the mung beans with a few pandan leaves. To make filling, soak mung beans in 480 ml water till expanded, about 1 hour (in tropical weather). Drain, rinse and drain again. Cook in 180 ml water, uncovered, till soft and dry, about 20 minutes. Mash beans roughly with spatula. Add sugar. Mash till dissolved and evenly mixed. Add oil. Mix till combined. Blend mixture till silky smooth. Fry in a wok over maximum heat possible, stirring constantly, till thick enough to hold its shape. Leave till cool. Divide and roll into balls weighing 20 g each (adjust to suit size of your mould if necessary; mine is 6 x 5 x 2 cm). To make dough, blend pandan leaves with coconut milk till finely minced. Squeeze to yield 60 g green milk. Place milk in a small pot. Add rice flour, oil and sugar. Mix till smooth. Cook over low heat, stirring, to make a smooth paste. Leave till cool. Cook 110 g sliced sweet potato in 120 ml water till soft and dry, about 15 minutes, to yield 100 g. Mash roughly. Add green coconut paste. Continue mashing till paste is smooth. Add wet glutinous rice flour made earlier. Knead thoroughly till evenly mixed. Divide and roll into balls weighing 20 g each (adjust if necessary to equal weight of filling). To assemble, lightly dust AKK mould with rice flour. Flatten ball  of dough, to about 6 cm wide. Place 1 piece of filling in the middle. Cupping top of kueh with corner of right thumb and forefinger (for right-handers), nudge and press dough to seal filling. Roll gently between palms till round, dusting lightly with rice flour if too damp. Place in mould. Press to flatten and level top. Turn over mould and whack hard against worktop so that kueh falls out, onto shiny side of banana leaf. To steam, bring steamer to a rolling boil. Place kueh in steamer, on a perforated tray. Cover and reduce heat to very low so that water barely simmers. Steam till kueh is slightly expanded, about 6 minutes. Remove kueh to a plate. Brush lightly with oil. Leave till cool. Trim excess leaf around kueh. To serve, wait till there's a birthday celebration . . . . Just kidding. AKK is good any day of the year but if you have a red one on your birthday, you'll live as long as a tortoise. And when your baby is one month old, you absolutely must give your friends and relatives some "red tortoise cakes" as a celebration. The red colour brings good luck and the tortoise shape symbolizes longevity.

Kueh Bangkit

Bangkit isn't a kit for banging. "Bang" is "香" in Teochew and Hokkien; "kit" is "cake" mangled; "kueh" is . . . (just about) anything edible any local delicacy served kinda snack size. In short, "kueh bangkit" means fragrant cookies.

How to make "fragrant cookies" that are not only fragrant but also melt-in-the-mouth?

First, bake or nuke the tapioca (or sago) starch till its weight is reduced by 13% (or 12% if it's a newly opened bag). This is a crucial step because H₂0 is the #1 enemy. If the starch isn't dry enough, the kueh bangkit will not crumble in the mouth and melt. Instead, it'll be hard and crisp.

Second, use coconut cream instead of coconut milk because cream has less water than milk, and is more fragrant. It doesn't make sense to remove the moisture in the starch, then put it back by adding watery milk, right?

Third, there must be enough eggs because eggs have a leavening and softening effect on the dough.

Can you use canned instead of fresh coconut cream? Pandan essence instead of pandan leaves? Well, there're many roads to Rome. Do you want to arrive in Rome in a Ferrari or Toyota?  Or, god forbid, Proton?

The recipe I'm sharing is from Cooking for the President. It's the only kueh bangkit recipe I've tried but I feel I don't need to search further. This is "the one" for me. Me being me, however, there're a few minor changes to the original recipe. I have:

1. Added 1/8 tsp salt to cut through the sweetness. Don't underestimate the importance of a large pinch of salt. It improves the taste of the cookies significantly.

2. Omitted stirring the eggs and sugar with pandan leaves, unheated, because I don't think much pandan flavour would be released just by stirring.

3. Replaced undiluted coconut milk with coconut cream. The original recipe uses part milk and part cream whereas I use only cream.

4. Changed the method for drying tapioca starch. Baking is better, I think, than dry-frying in a wok over low heat. I'll try the traditional method when I want to change my kitchen's colour scheme to white!

5. Increased the baking temperature to 160°C from 150°C. The higher temperature makes the cookies puff up a bit. The slight puff helps make the cookies more crumbly. And the hairline cracks created as a result are quite pretty, don't you think? Of course, if you're a stickler for tradition, you may still want to make patterns on the cookies by pinching each and every one of these little suckers with tweezers. Hey, be my guest, have fun; don't let me stop you, you go right ahead; enjoy yourself . . . .

Here's my video to walk you through the recipe:



5 February 2015 Update
Bake for Happy Kids, in a post dated January 2014 (here), says the kueh bangkit made with Mrs Wee's recipe is crunchy, not crumbly, and not melt-in-the-mouth. Here's my comment posted on the blog:

"Please refer to my video, 4:22-4:27. It shows me crumbling my kueh bangkit between two fingers. And 4:15-4:18 shows me breaking it with a pair of chopsticks. The recipe I use isn't mine but Mrs Wee Kim Wee's. I leave it to your readers to judge whether my kueh bangkit is anything remotely like yours that uses the same recipe."

Bake for Happy Kids' reply to my comment:

"I must admit that the texture might be different depending on the type of coconut cream used . . . some might prefer Mrs Wee Kim Wee's recipe (published at your blog) if they prefer a dough that is easier to handle and use the kind of coconut cream that you have suggested . . . ."

What kind of coconut cream does BFHK use? Canned. What's specified in the recipe? Fresh. My response, which BFHK has censored:

"I use the coconut cream specified in Mrs Wee's recipe. I suggest you do likewise before throwing her recipe to the dogs. Changing her recipe and then saying it's crap, without mentioning you've changed it, is . . . . Well, I leave it to your readers to judge whether your review is fair, underhanded or just plain stupid."

So BFHK doesn't dare to let her readers to read my comment. What a coward, and a stupid one at that!

KUEH BANGKIT (KUIH BANGKEK; COCONUT COOKIES) Source: Adapted from Cooking for the President (Recipe for about 150 pieces) 380 g tapioca starch 1/2 tbsp plain flour 50 g young pandan leaves rinse and cut finger length; dry thoroughly with paper towels 170 g coconut cream refrigerate 350 g undiluted fresh coconut milk undisturbed till cream separates, at least 3 hours; skim 170 g cream and place in a small pot; refrigerate till ready to proceed 120 g sugar  1/8 tsp salt 1 egg, about 50 g 1 yolk, about 15 g 5 g butter Sift tapioca starch and plain flour into mixing bowl. Weigh and take note of weight. Tuck pandan leaves in mixture. Bake at 160°C  for 1 hour. Discard pandan leaves. Re-weigh bowl and contents. If not lighter by 45 g or more, continue baking. When target weight is reached, turn off oven. Leave bowl in oven till almost cool. Re-sift starch and flour, inside a plastic bag unless you enjoy dusting your kitchen. You should have about 335 g starch mixture. Leave till completely cool. Whisk coconut cream, sugar, salt, egg and yolk till smooth. Cook over low heat, whisking, till sugar just melts. Turn off heat. Add butter. Whisk till incorporated. Leave till cool. You should have about 360 g coconut syrup. Set aside 20 g baked starch for dusting. To remaining 315 g, add 315 g coconut syrup. Mix till well combined. Knead thoroughly till smooth and even, drizzling with remaining syrup as necessary, about 2 tbsp, so that dough just comes together. Cover and set aside 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 160°C. Line baking tray with parchment paper. Lightly dust parchment paper with baked starch. Lightly dust worktop and rolling pin with baked starch. Working with golf ball-sized  amount each time, roll dough 3 mm thick, dusting as necessary to prevent sticking. Cut dough with dusted cookie cutter measuring about 3 x 2 cm. Place cookies on baking tray spaced 1 cm apart. Bake cookies till bottom is slightly brown and top has hint of colour around edges, about 15 minutes. Remove cookies to wire rack or plate to cool down. Serve immediately or store airtight.

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.

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.

Kuih Seri Muka/Kueh Salat (II)

To live up to its name, kuih seri muka must have a layer of custard that's smooth as a baby's bottom because "seri muka" means beautiful face.

Unlike humans, kuih doesn't need cosmetics, plastic surgery or botox. All it requires is low, gentle heat whilst it's cooking, and the "muka" would be "seri" as can be.


Do you know why kuih seri muka is also called kueh salat?

Because some impatient cooks steam the kuih on high heat, resulting in a custard with a pimply, wavy top. The worst ones even have holes inside.


When kuih seri muka has an ugly rather than beautiful face, the kuih is sala, which means wrong in Malay.

"Kuih sala! Kuih sala!" everyone would say.

Over time, "kuih sala" has been corrupted to "kuih salat".

Um . . . hmm . . . you know what? I just made that up, totally.

*laugh evilly . . .*

Making kuih salat is easy, especially if you have a steam oven or electric steamer with temperature control. If you have a big rice cooker, you might squeeze a small kuih in there. The warm mode is ideal for steaming the custard layer.

If, like me, you have to use a wok or big pot that fits a cake pan, you can still make a beautiful kuih seri muka. Just keep the steaming water for the custard layer a bit below boiling point by leaving the cover slightly ajar, and the kuih/kueh should be fine.

The recipe is here. Just follow the instructions and your kuih salat will be anything but sala. And that's the honest truth.

 



Click here for the recipe.

Learn How to Make Kueh Lapis in 5 Minutes

Knock knock!

Who's there?

Kueh lapis!

Kueh lapis who?

Kueh lah, please make some kueh!

OK, I know you don't want to hear stupid knock-knock jokes. You want to know how you can MAKE KUEH LAPIS IN 5 MINUTES, right?

I hate to tell you this but . . . heheheheh . . . it's . . . um . . . the learning . . . heheheheh . . . that takes 5 minutes, not cooking.

*laugh evilly . . . fall off chair*

Are you re-reading the post title – "Learn How to Make Kueh Lapis in 5 Minutes" – to check what it means?

Go ahead and roll your eyes. So not funny, eh?

Seriously though, kueh lapis doesn't take long if you don't count the "inactive" steaming time.

I'm sure you can spend the 5 minutes between making one layer and the next productively, enjoyably, or both.

After enjoying the video, please click here for the recipe.

Sambal Ikan Bilis (II)

Ini ikan bilis; ini kacang.

"Beep beep beep! KT has reached maximum capacity of her Behasa Melayu."

What?! That is so not true. I know lots more Malay words . . . like, um, nasi lemak, mee rebus, ayam, ikan, babi, pulut, pisang goreng . . . .

No, it's not just food words I know. I can count up to 10 in Malay, and I know colour words like hitam, hijau, merah, puteh and biru. I have to confess though it's food, like kacang puteh and nasi kuning, that helps me remember the colour words.

I also know "majulah Singapura" means forward Singapore. Believe it or not, that's the only part of Little Red Dot's national anthem I understand. The rest is just gibberish to me, most of which I don't even pronounce correctly.

If it's any consolation, I'm not alone in my ignorance. Wiki says (link):

 The majority of Singaporeans are clueless about the meaning of their national anthem. Only 1 in 7 know the meaning of each word.

Only 1 in 5 are able to sing the anthem perfectly. Singer Taufik Batisah, who is Malay, isn't one of them. Instead of bersatu, he once sang berseru.

 About 1 in 10 can recite only the first line, or not even that.

One-time Deputy PM Rajaratnam once said, "Anyone over the age of five, unless mentally retarded, has no difficulty singing the anthem."

Ha . . . ha . . . ha . . . oh dear . . . .

Well, better late than never. Time to find out, I guess.

*google . . . click click click*

What the . . . !

I'd always thought "forward Singapore" meant forward in terms of economic growth. Hell no, it's actually happiness. Sama-sama menuju bahagia means: let us progress towards happiness together. Happiness? Gee, what's that? According to the Happy Planet Index, Singapore is the second unhappiest nation in Asia.

After looking up the meaning of each word in the anthem, I can now compose two Malay sentences: Marilah kita masak! Marilah kita makan! Come, let us cook! Come, let us eat!

Marilah kita click sini for the resipi. Please click here for the recipe.