Ang Ku Kueh (紅龜粿) - savouring legacy & heritage
tried & tested recipe from a professional kueh-maker!
we recently got the chance AGAIN to learn to make kueh from our close friend, pastry chef and cookbook author, Yeo Min! this time, Azfar not only had to learn the ropes of preparing kuehs from scratch, he also needed to teach kids how to make them?! (now that’s what we call a double task!)
aside from making cake order for her online business on @PastoriesSG alongside conducting workshops, she helms Museum of Food, a space showcasing old kitchen artefacts and vintage recipe books. as part of this moving museum, she also shares anecdotes on the food history of the region, telling about how our forefathers (& mothers) used to eat & cook.
below is a recipe for Ang Ku Kueh (translated: ‘Red Tortoise Cake’) which Yeo Min formulated throughout the years, as extracted from her pastry cookbook - Chinese Pastry School.
Ang Ku Kueh (紅龜粿)
(makes 30-35 pcs)
dough
300g glutinous rice flour
250ml water
220g orang sweet potato, peeled, steamed until soft, and mashed
40g rice flour
food colouring, optional
dough paste
4 tsp rice flour
1 tbsp sugar
80ml water
2tbsp peanut oil
mung bean paste
400g split mung bean (moong dhal)
6 pandan leaves, cut into 3-inch pieces
200g sugar
160ml water
140 ml peanut oil/ghee
1/2 tsp salt
to assemble
banana leaves, as needed
5 tbsp peanut oil
150g rice flour
directions
preparing mung bean filling
rinse mung beans for at least 3 hours or until overnight. place into a shallow bowl with half of the pandan leaves and steam the beans until very soft for about 30 minutes or until the beans mush up easily.
remove pandan leaves & mash the beans using the back of a fork until smooth. in non-stick pan, combine mashed beans with the rest of the pandan leaves, sugar, water, oil/ghee and salt and stir well. put onto low heat and reduce the mixture to a stiff paste, stirring constantly to avoid burning.
transfer the paste onto a tray to cool it down completely. then, roll the paste into 22g balls and set aside.
making the dough
push the mashed sweet potato through a sieve for form a smooth texture.
to make the dough paste (roux), whisk rice flour with sugar, water and oil. cook over low heat on a non stick pan, whisking constantly, until it become a thick, translucent paste. cool it down.
in a mixing bowl, combine the sweet potato with glutinous rice flour, water, 40g rice flour and the cooked paste. mix everything with your hand until it forms a stiff, pliable dough which is not sticky. you may add your desired food colouring at this point & knead it in. portion the dough into 22g balls.
forming the kueh
to form the kueh, flatten a piece of dough with your thumbs and index fingers. place a mung bean ball in the middle and and enclose it fully. smoothen the ball by rolling in between your palms.
dust the ball with a little rice flour (too much and the surface might crack and be too dry). press the ball firmly into an ang ku kueh mould and knock it out.
grease a rectangular piece of banana leaf, just slightly bigger then the kueh, with peanut oil. carefully position the kueh on the banana leaf.
repeat until the dough and paste finishes. arrange kuehs on a steaming rack and steam for 8 minutes. transfer to a plate and immediately brush the surface with a little oil.
let kueh cool down to room temperature before serving.
if you’re looking for more reliable recipes for Nusantara kuehs & Chinese pastries, check out Chef Yeo Min’s recipe book, “Chinese Pastry School”!
