Kuih / Kueh

[Mooshmouse]

Thought I'd resurrect this thread and post a photo of some Filipino rice flour cakes.

Kutsinta

This is one of our household favourites; whenever I bring some home, I have to squirrel away one or two for myself before my husband and son demolish them all.

Click here for a recipe.

[Pan]

That looks like a Malay kueh, but I was expecting the recipe to include sweet potato. Still, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see something that looked like this at a night market in Malaysia.

[Mooshmouse]

That looks like a Malay kueh, but I was expecting the recipe to include sweet potato. Still, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see something that looked like this at a night market in Malaysia.

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Prior to Googling the recipe, I always thought there'd be either ground sweet potato or cassava in this. Go figure.

The batch that I brought home the other day was pretty disappointing. They didn't have as rich an orange colour as these in the photo, meaning that they either shorted on the sugar or used one that wasn't rich enough. And they were too floury (is that even a word?) tasting, kinda puck-like and not gelatinous enough. Meh. That teaches me to buy from a source outside of the tried-and-true whenever I have a craving.

[Rambutan]

There is a Malaysian kueh similar to this. In the east coast they called it Kosu

Its made from rice flour and a few other ingredients including palm sugar. It's eaten together with shredded coconut.

[jasie]

Thought I'd resurrect this thread and post a photo of some Filipino rice flour cakes.

Kutsinta

This is one of our household favourites; whenever I bring some home, I have to squirrel away one or two for myself before my husband and son demolish them all.

Click here for a recipe.

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This looks alot like what we called kueh kosui in singapore... yum!

[spaghetttti]

Wow,  all this discussion of delectable pastries made me crave them, so I really had to go out and buy some. 

Hi Yetti, salam kenal!

Lucky that you can still go out and buy some!

Wonder if you can help me out in finding recipe? I'm currently craving for this sweet cookie, it has shape of flower/star with sesame seed sprinkled on top and kinda brownish. I don't know the name. The cookie will melt in your mouth... I think there's sagu in it? Usually we buy them in bulk in the mall that sell "jajanan"

Thanks in advance!

Ellis

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Ellis,

So sorry for this late reply, but I believe I've found them!!!

Kue bangket, and the package lists these ingredients: tapioca flour, regular all purpose flour, white sugar, eggs, coconut milk, and sesame seeds.

I'll test how meltingly good they are upon breaking the fast later on. But for now I'm stashing them in my filing cabinet waaaay across the room, because they do smell too enticing .

Joie!!!! Thanks for posting the photo of the kutsinta. I love those little cakes, we call them kue lumpang here. Often made with white sugar instead of gula melaka/merah. Very elusive! I tried making them once and they ended up a little on the wet side. I'll give it another go, and hope they come out mooooshy!

Edited October 19, 2005 by spaghetttti (log)

[Tepee]

*cough* Yetty.....kuih bangkit, you say? In another form, it's this chinese new year goodie, recipe posted by yours truly.

[spaghetttti]

*swoon* Tepee....(not from puasa or ..... maybe )

Somehow in the back of my mind your name kept popping up as I was uploading that photo. I knew I'd seen them somewhere before, but darling, yours are the uber kuih bangkit!

I'm eyeing those molds, which make for verrrrrry lovely little kuih!

Hari Raya will be here soon. You do have my snail mail, correct?

[Tepee]

If I send these moulds to you, will you, Yetty, promise not to abandon us again, for better or worse, in rain or shine, till (heaven forbid) a surfeited forum space us do part?

Which particular mould captured your fancy, my dear? 1? 2? or all 3?

Edited October 19, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[Pan]

My other favorite Malaysian sweet was Sura, an East Coast specialty that my mother has a recipe for somewhere.

About Sura :

I've asked my Terengganu friend about Sura (she pronounced it as soo-rer like surer).

It is a variation of the Bubur Asyura I mentioned BUT in Terengganu is not prepared during the Ramadhan but rather in welcoming the month of Muharram (which is really tradiditonal custom)

Bubur Asyura serves as a reminder of how our Prophet Muhammad and its people had to make do with whatever bits of food they had during wartime but could still prepare a delicious and hearty meal. Therefore, Bubur Asyura has lots of ingredients. And is usually prepared in quantity so it can be shared by many. Bubur Asyura is also made by the Indonesian Muslims. It is however not a required Islamic rite.

According to my friend, the Sura in Terengganu is not like the porridge type that I know of. It is like what Pan said, more solid (like Talam - basic savory talam is simply rice flour and coconut milk & salt mixed and steamed, and then topped with pounded dried prawns and chopped celery). Sura is cooked until it is very thick so that it solidifies when cooled. Bubur Asyura is more watery like rice porridge.

There are 2 types of Sura in Terengganu. One savory and the more traditional one, sweet.

The savoury kind (according to her) does not contain chicken but rather is served/eaten with a kind of 'sambal' that has coconut and chicken or fish. It also has fine sliced omelette as topping.

She said the younger generation does not how to prepare Sura from scratch now and rely on the 'rempah Sura' that is sold during the season of making Sura. Just like people do not make curry powder but rely on the prepared curry mix.

This is one variation of the sweet Sura/Bubur Asyura recipe:

Bubur Asyura

ingredients:

1/2 kg rice, soaked overnight and finely grounded

1 kg sugar, melted and strained

1 kg brown sugar, melted and strained

2 kg thick coconut milk

600 gm small sago pearls, soaked

10 'pisang emas' or 'pisang raja' (bananas), chopped

1 kg mung beans, boiled till soft

1 bowl of corn nibblets

1 kg sweet potato, cubed

600 gm peanut, toasted and skinned

10 pcs jackfruit, cubed

method:

1. add thick coconut milk into a ig pot. gradually add rice flour and mix in until all rice flour is incorporated and the mixture is smooth.

2. add the sugar syrups (i think the sugars are cooked with a little water)

3. add corn nibblets, sweet potato. cook until semi-soft.

4. add in the rest of the ingredients

5. stir over low heat until mixture thickens. the mixture will start tu pull away from the pot when cooked.

6. cool in a pan and cut into cubes to serve.

* you may also add raisins, candied fruits, etc .....

I have surfed the Net and posted on Malaysian forums to get a recipe for the savoury Bubur Asyura but no luck yet. A good recipe is secretly guarded. I will have to ask my MIL for her recipe.

But amongst the ingredients for the savory Sura would be ginger, lemongrass, galangal, fenugreek and other spices.

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As a followup to this discussion of sura/asyura, I'd like to discuss this recipe in Malay in Ely's Recipe Book. She calls for "daging cincan." What kind of meat is that? I have to say that while I can understand the ingredients and most of the cooking directions, I'd still need a little help to be able to fully execute the recipe (if I were so bold). Also, the funny thing is, when I see the word "kacau" I think "bother"! (It means to stir, right? So the other sense is something like "stir up.")

[spaghetttti]

Hi Michael,

Hope this helps:

Daging = meat

cincang = minced/ground ....ground meat (beef)

Kacau = beat/mix/whip/stir .... beat those eggs up, dear

I've always loved this thread and will hold it close to my heart.

Edited October 3, 2006 by spaghetttti (log)

[peony]

just to share that recently made sago pudding.

haven't eaten this pudding for a long time.

[whisks]

just to share that recently made sago pudding.

haven't eaten this pudding for a long time.

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ooohhh...that looks soo yummy..how about sharing the recipe please???

thanks

[peony]

this is v easy to do..

1/2 cup small sago pearls

enough water to cover over sago

3 pandan leaves, tied-up

1 block gula melaka + 1/4 cup water (heated in the microwave till dissolved and smooth)

1 cup coconut cream

Boil water and pandan leaves in a large pot. Add in sago pearls when water is bubbling profusely. Stir until sago pearls are transparent. This should take 15-20 minutes.

Drain sago and scoop into jelly molds. Leave to cool for 30 minutes. Allow to set in the fridge for at least 2 - 3 hours before turning out to serve.

Drizzle with gula melaka syrup and coconut cream to serve!

[Pan]

In case anyone doesn't know what gula Melaka is, it's palm sugar. In Malaysia, it comes (used to come?) in a cylinder (diameter of perhaps six inches, height of maybe a quarter or a half an inch) with leaf wrapping around the sides. My parents and I used to disgust our neighbors by eating the sugar bit by bit, as Americans do with maple candy. Gula Melaka traditionally was wood-roasted and had a wonderful smokey taste. Is the smokey taste gone, along with the wood-roasted kueh bakar?

Edited December 12, 2006 by Pan (log)

[ecr]

My parents and I used to disgust our neighbors by eating the sugar bit by bit, as Americans do with maple candy.

Ah, a forum member after my own heart. We have a stash of gula that we've collected from Sumatra and Bali and around Malaysia (friends and associates know of our gula obsession and we now receive containers of gula from here and there as gifts ) and that's often how we eat it - piece by piece, like candy.

You can still find gula melaka with the smoky taste, but it's more likely to be the gula you buy at a pasar or directly from a small producer than the stuff you can pick up in the grocery store.

Malaysian gula melaka is wonderful, but you really must go to a market on Sumatra (perhaps elsewhere in Indonesia as well) to experience gula heaven ... imagine 15 or more kinds on display, all from different villages, with different flavors and slightly different textures.

[cyen]

In case anyone doesn't know what gula Melaka is, it's palm sugar. In Malaysia, it comes (used to come?) in a cylinder (diameter of perhaps six inches, height of maybe a quarter or a half an inch) with leaf wrapping around the sides. My parents and I used to disgust our neighbors by eating the sugar bit by bit, as Americans do with maple candy. Gula Melaka traditionally was wood-roasted and had a wonderful smokey taste. Is the smokey taste gone, along with the wood-roasted kueh bakar?

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Going slightly off topic, but can you use palm sugar to substitute brown sugar or the taste/texture/other properties are too different to do that? I want to try palm sugar for a steamed cake.

[Pan]

Going slightly off topic, but can you use palm sugar to substitute brown sugar or the taste/texture/other properties are too different to do that?  I want to try palm sugar for a steamed cake.

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The taste will be different, but by all means, try it!

[ecr]

can you use palm sugar to substitute brown sugar

I've done it with no prob but works best if your palm sugar is powdery/grainy rather than the sticky type (unless you're melting the sugar).

Going the other way, half brown sugar and half maple sugar is a decent substitute for palm sugar.

[cyen]

Thanks, Pan and ecr! Ecr, thank you for mentioning substitution for palm sugar, and I really didn't know that there are different kinds of palm sugars. I'm a total newbie when it comes to SE Asian ingredients.

Next time I come across some kue, I should take some pics. I'm not a huge fan of kue, but I really like lak-lak. The little, flat, round, white ones sprinkled with coconut shavings and brown colored syrup. For some reason they reminded me of silver dollar pancakes even though the texture and taste are totally different.

spaghetttti: Kue ku reminds me of the Chinese glutinous rice cake that's shaped like a turtle. I love the photos of the kue maker.

[Shiewie]

spaghetttti:  Kue ku reminds me of the Chinese glutinous rice cake that's shaped like a turtle.  I love the photos of the kue maker.

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Hi Cyen

Kueh Ku is the Chinese glutinous rice cake that's shaped like a turtle - it's called Ang Ku Kueh in Hokkien (Fujianese) which translates to Red Turtle Cake.

[Ce'nedra]

OMG I love all of these desserts! It'd be great if we had a recipe thread dedicated to them! I wonder if they're time consuming...

[JustKay]

As a followup to this discussion of sura/asyura, I'd like to discuss this recipe in Malay in Ely's Recipe Book. She calls for "daging cincan." What kind of meat is that? I have to say that while I can understand the ingredients and most of the cooking directions, I'd still need a little help to be able to fully execute the recipe (if I were so bold). Also, the funny thing is, when I see the word "kacau" I think "bother"! (It means to stir, right? So the other sense is something like "stir up.")

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That's Bubur Asyura like I know it. It's rice porridge but with all the meat and stuff in it. I think the ones I've eaten have more ingredients and spices in it.

I found a recipe for the one like my Terengganu friend said - more talam like.

It's not like anything I'm familiar with. And it's kinda :ew:

Edited February 4, 2008 by JustKay (log)

[JustKay]

OMG I love all of these desserts! It'd be great if we had a recipe thread dedicated to them! I wonder if they're time  consuming...

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This is a great site for Malaysian dishes (and other recipes too) and it's in English!

For all the KUIH recipes on that site, enter the keyword KUIH and hit the search button.

Edited February 4, 2008 by JustKay (log)

[Pan]

That's Bubur Asyura like I know it. It's rice porridge but with all the meat and stuff in it. I think the ones I've eaten have more ingredients and spices in it.

I found a recipe for the one like my Terengganu friend said - more talam like.

It's not like anything I'm familiar with. And it's kinda :ew: 

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Did you make this yourself and dislike the result? Based on my memory of what it looked like in the vats in Terengganu, it seems too bright (should be grayer and uglier) and too viscous (it should be unformed and halfway between solid and liquid). The stuff looked bad but tasted fantastic, as I remember! It should have quite a bit of cardamom taste. Did it?