Apam Balik (Ban Chean Kuih)

Apam Balik (Ban Chean Kuih)

Recipe source :  Flavours magazine

Apam balik or ban chean kuih in the Hokkien dialect, is an ever popular local kuih. I always pick up a piece or two of this delicious kuih each time I pass by the hawker selling it near the wet market. Each time I have to queue up because demand exceeds supply! The lady is literally selling "hot cakes" because there is always a long queue waiting for her to make them. 

The Chinese lady who sells this apam balik makes them thick and spongy. She uses a very large and heavy metal mould and cut the kuih into several pieces once it's done. Malay hawkers tend to make thin and crispy apam balik which are smaller in diameter. Both versions are equally delicious.

I am so glad I came across this recipe. It's so satisfying to make this at home!

Ingredients for flour mixture (makes 5 pieces)

250g plain flour
20g custard powder
30g rice flour
1 tsp salt
45g sugar
1 tsp instant yeast
1 large egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
310ml water
1 tsp bicarbonate soda or alkaline water
cooking oil for greasing pan 

 The flour mixture which has been set aside for one hour. 

Add bicarbonate of soda or alkaline water after one hour

 Crushed toasted peanuts

Sugar

Toppings

60g sugar
100g crushed toasted peanuts
60g margarine or butter
50g cream corn  (optional)              

Method

1.  Mix all the ingredients of the flour mixture except bicarbonate of soda or alkaline water  together.  Whisk until smooth. Cover and set a side for one hour.
2.  After one hour add bicarbonate of soda or alkaline water. Whisk the batter again to mix well.
3.  Heat a non-stick frying pan over low heat until hot. (I used a 20cm non-stick frying pan).
4.  Add some cooking oil to lightly grease the frying pan. 
5.  Add 3/4 cup batter and swirl the batter around to coat the whole frying pan and the sides as well. 
6.  Cook over low heat until bubbles appear. Add sugar and crushed toasted peanuts.
7.  Add a bit of butter or margarine and spread some cream corn on top of the peanuts.
8.  When the bottom is browned fold the pancake in half and transfer to a plate. 

  Do you find it mouth-watering?

Kuih Bingka Ubi (Cassava Cake ) 木薯糕

Kuih Bingka Ubi (Cassava Cake) 木薯糕

Recipe source :  Adapted from here

I love to eat this baked cassava cake which I often buy from Malay stalls selling an assortment of kuih-muih. The vendors usually displayed a wide array of choices which at times I find it hard to make a choice as to which kuih or cake I wish to eat!

Now making this kuih at home is another story. Grating the tapioca is no joke. It is a lot of hard work. But it is well worth the effort as the end result yielded a very fragrant and tasty cassava cake.

I made this for a family gathering and everyone likes it. As I was baking this for the first time, I only made a small loaf.  I have to take note to increase the amount the next time.

 

Ingredients

700g grated tapioca (cassava )
450ml coconut milk
50g grated coconut
70g palm sugar ( gula Melaka)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 pieces pandan leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter

Tapioca or cassava

Method

1.  In a pot, mix coconut milk, palm sugar, granulated sugar, salt and pandan leaves. Heat over low heat until palm sugar and granulated sugar melted. Add butter. Stir to mix well. Discard the pandan leaves.
2.  Add grated coconut and grated tapioca.
3. Stir over low heat until slightly thicken. keep stirring to prevent burning at the bottom of pot.
4.  Line a loaf pan with aluminium foil. 
5.  Pour thicken tapioca mixture into the prepared loaf pan.
6.  Bake at preheated oven at 180 degree C for about 1 1/2 hours or until firm. 
7.  The top should be browned. 

Kuih Lapis 九层糕

Kuih Lapis 九层糕

Recipe source :  The Malaysian Cookbook....page 29


I made this kuih lapis to be offered among the foods which I have prepared as Thanksgiving at a Taoist temple. It is now fast approaching the end of the Chinese lunar calendar and it is time to offer prayers in gratitude for blessings from the deities for the entire year. 

This is my first attempt at making this kuih lapis which is a Malaysian delicacy using rice flour and coconut milk as the main ingredients. The santan or coconut milk and the pandan leaves made this kuih very fragrant.

The Chinese refer to it as 'nine-layered cake'. I love to eat this by peeling off layer by layer to savour the fragrance and its sweetness. 

Ingredients

185g rice flour
125g tapioca flour
450ml santan or coconut milk
1/4 tsp salt
drops of food colouring

Syrup ingredients

280g coarse sugar
150ml water
4 pandan leaves (screw-pine)
 

Method

1.  Sift the two types of flour together. Add santan gradually to the sifted flour. Blend into a smooth batter.
2.  Boil syrup ingredients over moderate heat till sugar dissolves. Strain the syrup and add hot water ( if necessary ) to bring it to 225ml. Pour hot syrup into the blended flour mixture.
3.  Reserve about 160ml of batter and add red colouring ( this is for the top most layer ).
4.  Divide the remaining batter into two portion, one white and one pink. (if you prefer to have more layers of different colours, then reserve a portion of about 160ml each to mix in the colour of your choice)
5.  Boil water in a steamer.
6.  Lightly grease a round cake tin ( 18cm diameter x 5 cm height  ).
7.  Place the cake tin in the steamer.
8.  Pour in a white layer of batter and steam for 4 to 7 minutes till cooked.
9.  Once the white layer is cooked, add in the pink layer and steam the same way.
10. Repeat the process with the batter, alternating the colours, layer by layer. 
11.  Use dark red for the top most final layer.
12.  Cool cake completely (preferably overnight ) before cutting.

Tip :  

Make sure each layer is thoroughly cooked before adding the next layer. The batter will  become opaque once it is cooked.

Pan-Fried Glutinous Rice cake 煎糯米豆沙糕

Pan-Fried Glutinous Rice cake 煎糯米豆沙糕

Recipe source : Adapted from the video food4444lyfe


The original recipe from the video used peanut butter as filling. I substituted the peanut butter with red bean paste. I doubled the quantity of ingredients used in the original recipe. The skin is crispy and fragrant when eaten while they were still warm. The rice cakes  were sweet and chewy when cooled down totally.  

I will definitely make them again as both SK and I like them very much.  We like the chewy texture and find them very delicious.

Ingredients

80g water
50g coconut milk or santan
2 tbsp sugar
40g hot water
200g glutinous rice flour
2 tbsp oil ( optional )
8 tsp red bean paste
some cooking oil for pan-frying 

Instructions

1.  Mix 80g of water with coconut milk and set the mixture aside.
2.  In a big bowl, dissolve 2 tbsp sugar in 40g of water.
3.  Add in the glutinous rice flour and the coconut milk mixture. 
4.  Add in 2 tbsp cooking oil (optional ).
5.  Mix all the ingredients together and knead into a smooth dough.
6.  Divide the dough into 8 equal portions.
7.  Roll out one portion of dough and flatten to form a small circle.
8.  Place one tsp of red bean paste onto the centre of the dough.
9.  Wrap up the red bean paste and roll between both hands to form a ball. Flatten the ball to form a small disc.
10.  Repeat the steps to complete making 8 pancakes.
11.  Add some oil to a frying pan and pan-fry the rice cakes on both sides until done.

Coconut Candy ( 1 ) 椰子糖

Coconut Candy ( 1 ) 椰子糖

Sweet, sweet confection

Coconut candy was among the first few food items that I learnt to make as a teenager. Back in the day of my youth, there weren't that many snacks or sweet treats around in small towns. I first ate this candy at my friend's Deepavali open-house. Later, my friend, Sim made this old-fashioned coconut candy and I learnt it from her. There seemed to be a slight variation from what I ate at the Deepavali open-house with that made by my friend, Sim. Making and eating this candy again brought back the nostalgia of bygone years. 

This sweet confection is laden with sugar but I think it is okay to indulge once in a while.

Ingredients

1 grated coconut, equivalent to about 2 cups tightly packed grated coconut
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup of evaporated milk
2 tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

Instructions

1.  Pour the grated coconut into a wok and stir-fry for about 3 minutes.
2.  Add in the butter, sugar, salt and evaporated milk.
3.  Add in the cocoa powder.
4.  Continue to stir and cook until it is almost dry and caramelised.
5.  Dish up into a greased tray.
6.  Use a spoon to distribute the coconut evenly across the tray. 
7.  Use a knife to cut into squares or rectangles but do not remove the pieces yet.
8.  Allow to cool down and hardened first before removing the squares or rectangles. 
9.  Store in a container and keep it in the refrigerator. 

Cempedak Fritters 炸尖不辣

Cempedak Fritters 炸尖不辣

 

Deep-fried golden brown cempedak pieces

Cross-sections of deep-fried cempedak pieces.

The seeds can be eaten too if they are cooked thoroughly

 

Ingredients

15 pieces of cempedak
500ml cooking oil

Ingredients For Batter

20g Cornflour
40g plain flour
80g rice flour
250ml water
1/2  tsp baking soda

A plateful of raw mouth-watering cempedak pieces - they can be eaten as they are or
they can be deep-fried to make tasty cempedak fritters

Instructions

1.  Mix all the ingredients for batter together. Make sure it is evenly mixed and smooth. Set aside.
2.  Heat oil in a wok until hot.
3.  Coat the cempedak pieces with batter and put the coated cempedak pieces into hot oil.
4.  Deep-fry both sides until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes.
5.  Drain on kitchen towels.
6.  Ready to serve.

Note : You can read up my previous post on how to choose cempedak. Read how to choose cempedak

Very fragrant and crispy

Banana Fritters 炸香蕉

Banana Fritters 炸香蕉

 

 A local teatime favourite

Banana fritters or locally known as goreng pisang, is a popular teatime snack among Malaysians. It can easily be bought from roadside vendors. Near my office, the hawker stall which sells mixed rice during lunch hours also hawks teatime favourites like goreng pisang and many other local kuih-muih when the rush for lunch is over. My office colleagues have many a time tried to coax the secret recipe out of the friendly makcik gemuk ( fat aunty) who runs the stall. However, makcik gemuk is a shrewd businesswoman, she will not divulge her secret ingredients and risk having her patrons opening another goreng pisang stall next to her!

So we just have to come up with our own concoction by experimenting with the various types of flour while some colleagues surfed the internet for the elusive "secret batter". While we ladies are obsessed to get the recipe for that perfect batter, SK opined that as long as the banana is ripe, the batter is of no consequence because the end result of the banana fritter will still be the same which is sweet and delicious.

Ingredients

8-10 ripe bananas

500ml oil for frying

Ingredients For Batter

120g rice flour

40g all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

200ml water

a pinch of salt

1.  Mix all the ingredients in a medium-sized bowl until smooth.

2.  Let it stand for 15 minutes

Frying The Banana Fritters

 

1.  Heat the oil in a wok until hot

2.  Peel off the skin of the bananas. It is optional whether you prefer to fry the banana whole or slice the banana into halves before dipping into the batter

3.  Dip the peeled bananas into the batter to coat evenly

4.  Slowly place the bananas into the hot oil and deep-fry until golden brown

5.  Drain off excess oil on kitchen towels

A bunch of ripe bananas

Coconut Sago 西米椰子糕

Coconut Sago 西米椰子糕

 

  A popular kuih sold by Malay vendors at pasar malam (night markets)

I grew up seeing this kuih being sold by Malay vendors at their stalls in the morning markets as well as in the night markets. Yet, I have never bought this kuih as I would buy my favourite varieties time after time out of habit and out of preference.  As such I have not  tasted this sweet confection until I tried making it myself today!

Well, it is tasty, not bad at all.  It is soft and sweet and the coating of grated coconut added a slight crunch to it.

 

Ingredients

1 cup pearl sago
4 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups grated coconut
a pinch of salt
pink colouring

Instructions

1.  Put the sugar and water in a pot. Stir over slow heat until the sugar dissolves.
2.  Bring to the boil and add the sago pearl. Stir constantly for 20 to 25 minutes or until the sago is transparent and soft.  Add 2-3 drops of pink colouring and stir well.
3.  Pour sago into a shallow pan and allow to cool and set
4.  Add a pinch of salt to the grated coconut and mix well
5.  When the sago has cooled, cut into the desired shapes and roll each piece into the grated coconut to coat it
6.  Chill in the refrigerator before serving




Note: If the sago is not properly cooked the centre will remain hard. Use a spoon to scoop up some to test.

Steamed Pumpkin Pudding 南瓜糕 （金瓜糕 )

Steamed Pumpkin Pudding 南瓜糕 ( 金瓜糕 ) 

Steaming hot and delicious

Ingredients

 

300g pumpkin ( net weight )
40g dried shrimps, soaked and roughly chopped
4 dried mushrooms, soaked until soft and cut into thin slices
250g rice flour
4 small shallots, remove skin and thinly sliced
600 ml water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp cooking oil

Garnishing

1 chili padi (remove the seeds and chop it up)
1 stalk spring onion, use the green parts only (chopped)
Shallot crisps ( see instructions below )

Instructions

1.  Remove the skin, seeds and pulp of the pumpkin. Use a grater to grate the pumpkin into fine shreds
2.  In a large bowl, mix the rice flour, water, salt, sugar and pepper together. Mix well
3.  Heat a wok until hot, add in the cooking oil. Fry the sliced shallots for about  three minutes until golden brown. Remove half of the shallot crisps and set aside to be used as garnishing. 
4.  Leave the oil and half of the shallot crisps in the wok, add in the sliced mushrooms and stir-fry for a minute or two.
5.  Add in the dried shrimps and fry for another minute
6. Add in the shredded pumpkin and stir-fry until the pumpkin is softened
7.  Add in the rice flour mixture and mix all the ingredients thoroughly.
8.  Keep stirring continuously to prevent the bottom from getting burnt. As it cooks the flour mixture will thicken to form a dough-like mixture
9.  Cook and stir until the mixture becomes like dough.
10. Switch off the flame and transfer the mixture into a square cake tin ( 21 cm x 21 cm )
11. Use the back of a spoon to smoothen the surface of the mixture.
12.  Place the cake tin with the mixture in it and steam over boiling water for 40 minutes on high heat. Sprinkle the garnishing on the pumpkin pudding and steam for a further 5 minutes.
13.  Switch off the flame and remove the cake tin from the steamer.
14. Let it cool completely before cutting into smaller pieces.

Sure looks scrumptious

Kuih Koci 可吉糕

 Kuih Koci  可吉糕

 Three cone-shaped kuih koci

 

Banana Leaves

8 pieces of 15cm X 20cm banana leaves
Blanch the banana leaves in boiling water for 5 minutes, drain away the water and wipe them dry before use

Ingredients For The Skin

2 cups glutinous rice flour
1 1/4 cups coconut milk ( add 3/4 cup of water to 1/2 a cup of grated coconut to extract 1 1/4 cup of coconut milk. Sieve the coconut milk to get rid of any traces of grated coconut left in the coconut milk)
1/2 tsp sugar
a sprinkle of salt
1 tbsp oil


Dissolve the salt and sugar in the coconut milk. Mix this with the oil and glutinous rice flour together to form a smooth dough. Divide the dough into 8 portions. Cover with a piece of towel and set aside for later use.

Ingredients For The Filling

 

1 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1 pandan (screw-pine) leaf
A pinch of salt

Combine all the above ingredients together in a small pot or saucepan and cook over slow fire until the sugar is dissolved and all the ingredients are well combined and dry.  Discard the pandan leaf. Let it cool and divide the mixture into 8 equal portions. Form them into smooth balls.

Instructions

1.  Take one portion of the dough and flatten it into a circle and wrap a portion of the filling in it. Repeat until all the 8 portions are completed.
2.   Roll a banana leaf into a cone. Secure the loose edges with staples to form a cone
3.   Brush a little oil on the inside of the cone
4.   Put the wrapped dough into the banana leaf cone and fold up the edges.
5.  Steam over boiling water for 20 minutes

Note: See my other post on how to steam food under "Kitchen Tips"

An unwrapped and cut opened kuih koci

Pulut Inti (Glutinous rice topped with sweetened grated coconut) 糯米椰渣糕

Pulut Inti (Glutinous rice topped with sweetened grated coconut) 糯米椰渣糕

 A sweet delicacy

Hawkers sell them wrapped up like nasi lemak packets

 

Banana Leaves

Some banana leaves
Depending on your preference, you will need more leaves if you wish to wrap them up hawker style.
Dip banana leaves into boiling water for 5 minutes, drain and set aside. Wipe dry before use.

 

Ingredients For the Glutinous Rice

2 cups glutinous rice, wash and drain
2 cups coconut milk or santan
1 tsp salt
A few drops of pandan (screwpine) juice or green colouring


1.  Mix glutinous rice, coconut milk and salt into a container with a lid and place it in a steamer to steam for 45 minutes.
2.  Remove and fluff up the glutinous rice to allow the grains to swell to a soft texture
3.  Divide the glutinous rice into two portions, mix green colouring into one portion of the steamed glutinous rice and leave the other portion as it is.
4.  Cover the container and continue to steam for a further 10 minutes
5.  Allow to cool

Ingredients For the Inti (Filling)

2 cups grated coconut
1 cup shaved gula Melaka or palm sugar

50g sugar
1/2 cup of water


Mix everything together and cook in a saucepan over a slow flame. Stir constantly to prevent burning until mixture thickens and becomes jam-like.  Remove from flame and allow to cool before use.

Gula Melaka or palm sugar

Instructions

1. Once the glutinous rice and the inti (filling) have cooled down, you can start assembling them.
2. Cut the banana leaves into round circles.
3. Oil your fingers and form small balls from the white portion of the glutinous rice and place them in the centre of the round banana leaves.
4.  Keep your fingers well oiled, surround the small white balls of glutinous rice with green glutinous rice.
5.  Put a spoonful of the inti (filling) on top of the white glutinous balls.