Ah Ma's Collection 5: Natural Colours Ang Ku Kueh (Tortoise) Galore

What're u eating? 在吃什么?

吃不饱的. 想当 hollywood 著名演员

Fertility and Prosperity ...Ang ku kueh symbolises these two elements and chinese families inevitably serve them during a newborn's first month birthday celebration or as offerings to the gods' they worship. They are moulded to resemble a tortoise shell and the original colour was red, derived from stirring in a drop or two of food colour in the water. Ancient chinese believed that the comsumption of tortoises bring about longevity and prosperity and this myth is deeply embedded in the traditional practice till today. The colour red brings good luck. Westerners would never understand why Chinese love symbolic foods. At times, I raise this question to myself as well, however , I love them for the most primitive reason..they taste very good! Eat the less of the  very best and you'll still be in good shape.

colour from beetroot juice

ku kueh moulds

The dough largely uses glutinous rice flour with small quantity of rice flour and tapioca flour and the texture is soft and slight sticky. The filling is either sweet mung beans or peanuts with sesame seeds. Today's dough varieties include sweet potato, yam , corn, black sesame seeds and chinese herbal leaves skins and the filling could even be savoury. While incorporating vegetables/ edible leaves into the dough, beautiful natural colours ku kueh appear before your eyes and eliminate undesirable chemical intake...love the purple ones the most! The orh-ku-kueh tastes at its best with a saltish mung bean filling which I'm sharing in this post. A pork mushroom filling also is good choice.

a gai si tang leaf

mugwort leaves - ai-yeh

colourful sweet potatoes

purple sweet potato 

black sesame seeds

roux

Today I'm introducing another method of making Straits Chinese kueh, a slight difference from the hot water dough for soon kueh and png kueh- hot water roux technique. Instead of pouring boiling water to the flours mix, I cook some rice flour and tapioca flour with water till a roux is formed. This roux is then pour into the flours and mix with oil to form a soft dough. This process provides some structure to the stickiness of glutinous rice flour and the tortoise print stays more ingrained after steamed.

dough with blended leaves

boiled leaves

leaves blended

flour leaves roux mixture bf knead

class preparing banana leaves as d base

ready to be steamed

I have in my file, sheets of different ku kueh recipes for many years, and pull out each one for the type I'm making for that day. On closer reading, I realised keeping one recipe is sufficient to make the different kinds of ku kueh by substituting the vegetables and adjusting the quantity of sugar and flour in the dough and therefore, multiple postings is unnecessary.

Orh Ku Kueh (Black)

Recipe:

• 150g smooth mugwort/ gai si tang leaves paste (about 200g uncooked leaves)
• 200g glutinous rice flour (elephant brand)
• 20g rice flour
• 10g tapioca flour
• 70g sugar
• 200g water + 20g for adjustment 
• 2 tbsp oil
• 30 pcs banana leaves (cut to size)

Directions

1. Cover leaves with water and boil till soft - 7 mins for mugwort and 45mins for gai si tang.
2. Pour away hot water and let them cool.
3. Squeeze out almost all water and grind/ chop them till smooth.
4. Measure 150g for use and keep the rest in freezer for future use. Vendors usually sell them in big bundles.
5. Dissolve 200g water and rice/ tapioca flours together.
6. Cook them over very low fire till thick.
7. Pour the roux into glutinous flour with the leaves paste.
8. Cool five minutes.
9. Pour oil around the flour.
10. Use scrapper slowly blend all into a soft dough.
11. Mixing bowl must be clean, otherwise adjust accordingly with little water or glutinous flour.
12. Cover with plastic sheet and rest 1 hour.
13. Weigh each small dough 25g (for small mould)
14. Roll between palms till smooth.
15. Flatten the small dough on palm or between plastic sheet.
16. Place filling in center and seal the edges with hands or twist the plastic sheet.
17. Dust the rolled filled dough with tapioca flour and press into mould.
18. Give a knock and dough will fall out of mould.
19. Steam them medium low fire 4 minutes, open n wipe cover, continue another 4 mins  (Q soft). Steam 4 mins later before serving. 10 mins for those who like them soft soft , almost no designs.
20. Cool them 1 mins , then apply some coconut oil on surface for a glossy look.

Savoury Mung Bean Filling:

• 200g mung beans
• 1 cup water
• 100g sugar
• 40g spring onions white part with little green- chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1/4 cup oil + 1 tbsp to adjust

Directions:

1. Soak mung beans for 4 or more hours
2. Drain and add 1 cup water. Steam 45 mins
3. Mash / blend beans immediately while piping hot.
4. Heat oil and brown the chopped spring onions.
5. Add sugar and stir till slight melted.
6. Stir in the mashed beans/ salt/ pepper n fry the paste till semi -dry.
7. Cool first and roll into balls of 13 - 15g (60% of dough).

Cook's Pointers:

• lightly grease banana leaves
• rest dough overnight even better
• replace leaves paste with mashed sweet potato or pumpkin for other colours
• red ku kueh - blend 1 small cooked beetroot with water and extract 200g juice and use it to cook with the rice n tapioca flours.
• reduce sugar to 20g for sweet potato, beetroot and pumpkin dough
• Opening cover after 4 mins steam brings down the pressure and the design stays in shape after 8 mins.

Workshop available @ Palate Sensations Singapore 

- tel 65 64789746

Cook as to how you like to eat it, join me if we share the same taste.  PaulaCookingFingers