Kaya Balls/Coconut Jam Balls Recipes

I always wanted an electric Takoyaki pan but can’t bring myself to buy it because it cost way too much money for a small gadget. I was so happy when Diana gave me that for Christmas. I promise her that we will make Takoyaki together when she comes home the next time. In the meantime I can’t just let the pan sitting in the kitchen counter without making anything out of it so I decided to try my hand in making Kaya Balls.

These little bite sized delights are commonly sold in Malaysia shopping center food courts. . They are basically little dome-shaped buns filled with kaya (coconut egg jam), chocolate or peanut butter. I tried goggling for the recipe but can’t seem to find the one I want. So this recipe is something I come up with and it turn out pretty good.

Ingredients:

150 gram cake flour
30 gram cornstarch
1 tbsp custard powder
70 gram sugar
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 eggs
180 ml milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp oil
5 tbsp kaya/coconut jam
Some oil for greasing

1. Combined flour, cornstarch, custard powder, salt and baking powder. Mix well and set it aside.
2. Whisk eggs and sugar until well corporate, add in the milk and stir well. Stir in the flour mixture until you get a smooth batter. Add in the vanilla and oil. Set the batter aside to rest for half an hour.
3. Pour the batter into measuring cup for easy pouring. Turn on the Takoyaki pan; brush it lightly with some oil. Pour some batter into each holes about ¾ full, add a little dollop of kaya in the middle of the batter.

4. Once bubbles appear on top of the balls and the bottoms are lightly brown, use a wooden skewer and flip the balls over to cook the other side.
5. Once it is brown, remove the balls and transfer it to serving plate. Repeat the same to the rest of the batter.

Note: This Takoyaki pan does not come with a heat control, so I burned the very first batch of the batter. I have to switch on and off a few times just to control the heat.

I am entering this post in the Muhibbah Malaysian Monday roundup, created and hosted by Sharon of Test with a Skewer and Suresh of 3 Hungry Tummies.

Blue Glutinous Rice Cakes (Pulut Tai Tai) Recipes

I always wanted to make this Chinese Baba Nyonya wedding specialty cakes. It is called Pulut Tai Tai or Blue Glutinous Rice Cakes. The blue stain comes from a flower name Bunga Telang or Blue Pea Flower. Since I still have some of the dried blue pea flowers given by Sonia I decided to made some when my friend Choy’s and her family came to our house for dinner not too long ago Traditionally, this cakes are served with kaya (coconut egg jam) and you can find the recipe here.

Ingredients:

600g glutinous rice – wash and soak overnight
350 ml coconut milk
150ml warm water
4 pandan leaves
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
12 - 15 blue pea flowers – soak in some warm water,crush it to extract the blue coloring.

1. Wash the rice and divide it into two equal portions. Soak one part in water and another part in the blue pea flowers juice. Leave them overnight. Soaking the rice overnight will help in steaming process.
2. Drain both the rice; put them side by side on into a steaming tray. Warm the coconut milk, sugar and salt into the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and mix well.

3. Drizzle in about half of the coconut milk into the rice. Arrange the pandan leaves on top of the rice and steam the rice over rapid boiling water for 10 minutes.
4. Remove the steaming tray, put the pandan leave aside, fluff up and mix both rice together and drizzle the balance of the coconut milk, put the pandan leaves back on top of the rice again and continue to steam for another 15 minutes or until the rice is done.
5. Remove the steaming tray; discard the pandan leaves, even out the rice with a spoon, and using a banana leaf or aluminum foil press down the rice until well compact.
6. If possible put something heavy (I used can food) to weigh down the rice. Leave it to cool.
7. Slice the rice cakes and serve it with coconut jam.

I am submitting this dish to Muhibbah Malaysia Monday

For more details please refer here

Seri Muka II/Glutinous Rice Layer Cake Recipes

I’ve posted this before but it is a different recipe. I did some changes to the recipe and also tinted the glutinous with some bunga telang(butterfly pea or clitorea ternated) given to me by Sonia when I went back to Malaysia early this year. This flower which was used to blue the rice in nasi kerabu (rice salad) or nyonya kueh but now many of them just used the blue coloring. To obtain the color from the bunga telang, the blooms are dried in the sun before storing. When required, they are soaked in water to allow the color to seep out and subsequently, obtain the rich blue color. My friend Sue given me some seeds and I planted it during summer. I think I planted it a bit too late and by the time it started to flower it was already late summer so I didn’t get much flowers out of it. I kept quite a bit of seeds for my next season planting.

No sure why but the plants have more leaves than flowers.

Ingredients:

600 gram glutinous rice - wash and soaks the rice overnight
300 ml thick coconut milk
1 tsp salt
10 dried bunga telang/blue clitorea flower (soak in a bit of hot water, mash and squeeze it to extract a deep dark blue hue)

Custard topping:

3 eggs
130 gram sugar
3 tbsp custard powder
2 tbsp flour
300 ml thick coconut milk

1. To make the rice layer – drain the rice well. Combined the rice, coconut milk and rice and mix well. Pour it into a well greased 8” x 8” pan and steam over high heat for 30 minutes or until rice is cooked.
2. Remove from heat, fluff up the rice with a fork and drizzle the blue flower juice all over the rice. Press the rice with a banana leaf or aluminum foil to compact and level the surface. Set it aside.
3. To make the custard layer, combined all the ingredients and mix well. Strain into a saucepan to remove any lumps. Cook over low heat, keep stirring until mixture slightly thickens. Remove from heat and pour the mixture over the glutinous rice. Cover the top of the pan with a piece of foil and steam it over medium heat for 30 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and let it cool complete before cutting into it.

Note: To get a smooth and even top layer you have to steam it over medium heat and if not you will get bumpy and wrinkle layer. I do have some extra seeds for this flower and if anyone interested and you can email me your name and address and I will mail it to you.

I am submitting this dish to Muhibbah Malaysia Monday

For more details please refer here

Angku Kueh/Steamed Glutinous Rice Cake with Sweet Filling Recipes

I made a lot of western dessert but sometimes I like our good old traditional Kueh too. Carlos is not a fan of it so sometimes it is difficult to make it just for myself. I am glad some of my Malaysian friends love it as much as I do so I get to make it with them. I made these Angku kueh with a friend of mine not too long ago.

Angku Kueh known as red tortoise cakes in Hokkien dialect is a common breakfast item among Chinese Malaysian or Singaporeans. As the name says, it is shaped like the shell of a tortoise because it was believed then, that eating these long-living creatures would bring longevity to the person eating it. It is also a must have on special occasions like celebrating the first-month of newly born baby, wedding days, birthdays etc for the Chinese.

Basically the skin of the AngKu Kueh is made from sweet potatoes and glutinous rice flour. You can put fillings like red bean paste, mung bean paste, coconut or roasted peanuts into it. A good angku kueh is one where the skin is thin, soft, and chewy and a nice contrast with the sweet fillings. We were pretty satisfied with the angku kueh we made as the skin turn out well and the filling is not too sweet. Here are some pictures taken when we were making these to share it with you.

Ingredients for the dough:

300g sweet potatoes - cut into chunks
180 g glutinous rice flour
2tbsp rice flour
2tbsp sugar
3tbsp vegetable oil
some water (to bind the dough together but if your sweet potatoes are soft you might not need it)

1. Steam sweet potatoes till soft, takes about 20 minutes.
2. Use a potato masher or a fork, mashed the cooked sweet potatoes, add in glutinous rice flour, rice flour, sugar, and oil, slowly add in water bit by bit to form a soft dough, cover and set it aside and rest for 30mins.
3. Shape into 30g small ball (depend on the size of your mould)

Ingredients for Mung Bean filling

250g mung beans/green beans – wash and soak overnight in cold water
130g sugar
3tbsp vegetable oil

1. Drain dry the mung beans, place the beans on a steaming tray and steam over medium heat until soft. It should take about half an hour.
2. While beans still hot, place beans, sugar and oil in a food processor, process till fine and become a paste.
3. Shape into 10-12g balls (depend on the size of your mould) and set it aside.

To make the Angku Kueh

Some banana leaves – cut into round shape
A bit of oil for brushing

1. Grease the angku kueh mould by brushing on some vegetable oil.
2. Flatten the sweet potato ball, place a mung bean ball to the center and shape it into a round ball.

3. Place the ball in the mould, press evenly, then knock to relased the dough and place on greased banana leaf.
4. Arrange on a steaming tray and steam for 10mins over high flame. Take it out from the steamer and brush it lightly with some oil.

Note : Different sweet potatoes will have different texture and water content. Some you might need to add more water to the dough and some you might need to add more glutinous rice flour to it.

Nate and Annie from House Of Annie will be hosting the September event. They have set up a form for all submissions.

Bibingka Cassava Recipes

Bibingka Cassava is a tradition Filipino dessert. This dessert is very similar to our Malaysian Kuih Bingka. The traditional bibingka will have a cheese or custard topping to it but I omitted that. I prefer it plain. For me the taste of this bibingka is a cross between mochi and kuih bingka . I was surprised that Carlos didn’t turn away from this dessert. I think it is because this dessert was baked and not steamed.

Ingredient A

2 pounds grated cassava
1/2 cup fresh grated coconut
3 eggs
3/4 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup Mochiko flour/glutinous rice flour
4 tbsp melted butter

Ingredients B

120 gram sugar
120 gram gula Melaka/palm sugar/brown sugar
A few drop of yellow coloring (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line and greased a baking pan or any type of mould or pan you are using
2. In a large mixing bowl, combined all the ingredients A and mix well. Divide the mixture into two equal amounts. Mix one portion with sugar and a few drop of yellow coloring. And the other one with the gula Melaka/palm sugar.
3. Pour one portion of the mix into the baking pan or mould and bake for 20 minutes. Take out the pan and pour the remainder portion on top. Let it bake for another 40 - 45 minutes or until the top is dry and firm to touch.If you are using the donut pan, the 1st portion will take 10 minutes and the second another 15 min to bake.
4. Remove from oven and let it cool completely before serving.

Malaysian Peanut Pancakes/Apam Balik Recipes

There are so many names out there for this kueh. Some call it Ban Chien Kueh, some call it 'Tai Gau-Meen' but we called it 'Chin Loong Pau'. This will be the kueh that I asked my sisters to bring me each time they come here for vacations. There are two version of it. One thin and crispy and the other one is thick and spongy. I remember buying this kueh every week at our Subang Jaya SS15 pasar malam (night market) and we will placed our order first before we walk around the pasar malam and pick it up when we are done with our shopping. There is always a long line of people buying this kueh. There were that good.

The fillings is usually contain peanuts and sugar with a tiny dollop of butter but some might put sweet corn and fresh grated coconut in it. You can put any sweet fillings like red beans, sweet coconut, nutella, chocolate, or kaya to your Apam Balik. I read somewhere that people even put cream cheese and minced meat to their Apam Balik. I wouldn't go that far as I like mine the old fashion way. Plain and simple, nuts and sugar will do.



I made this over the weekend as Diana requested for it and Carlos seems to like it a lot too. The only kueh that he will eat is Kuih Bakar and this Apam Balik. I’ve made a few version of it before but I find this one is the best. This recipe was adapted from Agnes Chang’s Hawker’s Delights cookbook.

Ingredients:
170 grm flour
100 grm rice flour
30 grm cornstarch
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
7 oz water (I used 8 oz)
150 grm sugar (I used only 80 grms)

Filling:

120 grm melted butter (I used only 80 grm)
150 grm sugar
Some toasted peanuts (crushed)
2 tbsp toasted sesame (optional)

Optional:
Some cream corn
Grated coconut

1. Sieve all the 3 flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda into the mixing bowl. Add in the sugar and mix well. Beat the eggs into the water, add in the vanilla. Add the eggs mixture into the flour and mix until smooth. Strain and let the batter rest in the fridge for 2 hours.
2. Heat up apam balik mold on a non stick pan, put about 2 ladle full of batter into the pan. Swirl it around until it covers the whole pan. Sprinkle some sugar on top and cover.



3. Once the bubbles start appearing on top of the pancake, sprinkle some peanut and melted butter on top or any type of fillings you prefer.
4. Once the side of the pancake turns brown, run a knife around the edges of pancake and fold the pancake into half. Remove and serve.




Note: I used a 9" non stick pan to made this and it yield 6 pieces of large pancakes. You can cut the pancakes into 2 before serving.

Soon Kueh/Steamed Vegetable Dumplings Recipes

Soon Kueh or bangkwan kueh is my childhood favorite. Making this kueh brought back lots memories of my childhood. I remember helping my grandmother and mom made these during the weekend. Years ago all of us lived together in one big old house and there are many mouths to feed. We don’t have to luxury to go out and eat at the coffee shops so my family will make kuehs like this every weekend for breakfast.


For the dough:

200 grm rice flour
100 grm glutinous rice flour
30 grm of tapioca flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
360 ml boiling water (more or less)

For The filling:

1 medium size jicama/bangkuang – peel and julienned
1 carrot – peel and julienned
¼ cup dried shrimps – soak and roughly chopped
4 shallots – thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic - chopped
1 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp of dark soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat up some oil in a frying pan, fry shallots until lightly brown. Remove some of it for garnish. Add in garlic and dried shrimps, stir fry for a minute and add in carrot and jicama.
2. Stir-fry for a minute and add in all the seasonings. Stir-fry until well combined. Add in a cup of water and bring it up to a boil. Turn down the heat and covered.
3. Cook until the jicama is soft and water evaporate. Check seasonings and stir in the spring onions. Dish out and set it aside to cool.
4. In the meantime make the dough. In a medium bowl, mix all the 3 flour together. Add in the salt and stir well. Slowly pour in the boiling (do not pour in all at once) Using a wooden spoon and give it a quick stir until the dough come together.
5. Dust the work table with tapioca flour and transfer the dough onto the floured surface. Add in oil and knead well until smooth, adding more tapioca flour if needed. Rest dough for 10 minutes.
6. Divide dough equally in the size of a golf balls. Cover them to prevent drying. Roll out each balls thinly. Place in 1 1/2 tbsp of filling, fold in half and seal edges by pinching the sides together.
7. Place kueh on greased steaming trays, steam over high heat for 10 minutes. When kueh puffs up, it is ready. Remove and brush with oil generously to prevent sticking together.
8. Place kueh on greased steaming trays, sprinkle with some water and steam over high heat for 10 minutes. When kueh puffs up, it is ready. Remove and brush with oil generously to prevent sticking together. Garnish with some fried shallots before serving.

Note: For the leftover soon kueh you can just pan fry them with a bit of oil in a non-stick pan until the skin is golden and crispy.

Epok Epok Sayur/Vegetable Puffs Recipes

Epok epok sayur is a curry puff lookalike but instead of meat and potatoes this it is filled with vegetables like carrot, cabbage, onions, pepper, jicama etc. The filling of this epok epok is very similar to spring roll filling. I remember eating this when I was in school but I am not sure if anyone is selling this anymore. Unlike curry puffs, epok epok sayur is usually eaten with some chili sauce. This little morsel is just delightful for afternoon tea and it is perfect with a cup of teh tarik.

Ingredients for the dough:

380 gram flour
113 grm/1 stick cold butter – cut into small cubes
1 egg - beaten
½ tsp salt
100 + ml water

Ingredients for fillings:

1 piece chicken breast – thinly sliced (omit this if you want it to be vegetarian)
1 carrot – julienned
Half red pepper – julienned
1 small onion – thinly sliced
2 cups shredded cabbage
A handful of sugar snap peas – thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic - chopped

Seasoning:

1 tbsp of oyster sauce (omit this if you want it to be vegetarian)
3 tbsp of soy sauce
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp sugar
Salt to taste

1. To prepare the filling. Heat about 2 tbsp of oil in a wok, add in garlic and onions and stir fry until fragrant and lightly brown. Add in the meat; continue to stir until the meat changes color.
2. Add in the rest of the vegetables, all the seasonings and stir until well combined. Add in a bit water and cook until the vegetable is a bit soft. Do not overcook. Taste and check seasoning.
3. Remove and let it cool.
4. For the pastry, place the flour in a large bowl, add in salt. Mix well. Put in the cold butter and with your fingers rub the butter and flour together until it resembles coarse bread crumbs.
5. Add in the egg, mix again and then add in the water. A little at a time until the dough comes together. Continue to knead until smooth. Cover and let the dough rest for 15 min.
6. Roll out the dough thinly, cut into circle, put some filling in the center and fold the pastry into half circle shape and crimp the edges.
7. Heat up some oil, deep fry in hot oil until golden brown. Drain the oil and served.

Pak Thong Koh (Steamed White Cake) Recipes

I made this Pak Thong Koh (Steamed Rice Cake) a few days ago. I always like the yeasty smell and the unique springy texture of this kueh (cake). I google for the recipe and many of the recipes out there need 6-8 hours of fermentation but not this recipe. From start to finish it took me about 3 hours. The process took a bit longer because the weather here is still very cold so the batter need a bit more time to ferment. In warm weather all it need is about 2 hours.

Ingredients:
Recipe adapted from Rose Kitchen

280 grms rice flour
280 grm sugar ( I used only 200 grm)
600 ml water
1 tsp dried yeast + 3 tbsp of lukewarm water
3 pandan leaves – knotted
½ tsp salt
½ tbsp cooking oil

1. In a mixing bowl add in rice flour and 300 ml water. Mix well and set it aside.
2. In a small saucepan, boil the balance 300 ml water, sugar, salt, and pandan leaves. Once boil remove the pandan leaves. Pour the syrup right away inside the rice flour mixture and leave it aside to cool.
3. Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water and pour it into the cool rice flour mixture. Stir well and cover and let it ferment for 1 ½ or 2 hours or until small and tiny bubbles appears on top of the batter.
4. Prepare the steamer; bring the water to rapid boil. Grease and pre-heat an 8” baking round or square tray.
5. Add in ½ tbsp of vegetable oil to the mixture, stir well and pour into the heated tray and steam for 20 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when tested.
6. Cut and serve once it is cool.

Steam Glutinous Rice Cake/Rainbow Seri Muka Recipes

I will be going back to Malaysia soon and I need to clean up quite a bit of leftovers in my fridge. I still have a bit of soaked glutinous rice left from the Kuih Wajik so I decided to make another local favorite kuih from Malaysia. This Seri Muka is very similar to the one I made previously but I change the recipe a bit and made the topping into 3 colors.

Ingredients for the bottom layer:

400 grm of glutinous rice - wash and soak for at least 4 hours or overnight
230 ml of coconut milk
2 pandan/screwpine leaves
1 tsp of salt

Ingredients for the top layers:

4 large eggs
6 tbsp rice flour
5 tbsp custard powder/cornstarch
500 ml of coconut milk
200 grms of sugar
1 tsp of salt
Few drop of red and yellow coloring
Few drop of pandan paste

1. Prepare the steamer. Combine glutinous rice, salt and coconut in a square or round cake pan. Mix well. Place the screwpine/pandan leaves on top of the rice and steam over rapidly boiling water for about 30–35 minutes or until cooked through.
2. Discard pandan leaves. Fluff up the rice, and then press rice firmly down with a banana leaf or aluminum foil until it is compact. Return it to the steamer.
3. For the topping, stir eggs and sugar until well combined. Add the coconut milk and the rest of the ingredients. Strain the batter to remove any lumps.
4. Divide the batter into 3 equal portions. One portion adds a few drop of red coloring, another one with yellow and the last one with green or pandan paste.
5. Scratch the surface of the steam rice lightly with a fork. Pour in the first (red) layer of the batter on top of the rice. Steam over a low heat for 5-7 minutes or until set.
6. Before pouring the second (yellow) layer scratch the surface lightly with a fork. Steam until set and followed by the last (green) layer. Steam for another 7 minutes.
7. Set it aside to cool completely before cutting into serving pieces.

Note: Do not steam over rapidly boiling water otherwise the custard layer will not be smooth)