Super Yummmmy!
CONTENT M A R C H 2 01 3 I S S U E A note from our
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editor
KUIH BAKAR Let’s discover the famous kuih bakar from Kelantan and Terengganu.
AIS KACANG The Malaysian’ all time favourite dessert
Dear readers,
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We all love dessert! We all used to take dessert to concludes a meal. But on this month’s entry, we’re not going to talk about waffles, ice creams, or pudings. We’re going to share more on our own Malaysia traditional dessert. We would want to tell origins stories of desserts and also tips on how to make them youself. Malaysia traditional desserts whether it’s Chinese, Malay, Indian or Nyonya delicacies, it’s all about yumminess. There are are delicately prepared and are literally mouth-watering to the core of it all
rED BEAN We hope you will enjoy it and do remember to share us with your friends or maybe write to us with your stories on your favourite Malaysian dessert. Hope to see you next month!
Green jelly worm that taste wonderful with shaved ice.
sWEET POTATO soUP A little history on people who gone thru world war two
CENDOL Green jelly worm that taste wonderful with shaved ice.
Kuih-muih Interview with Baba Charlie
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Eunice
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Murukku Malaysian favourite dessert that not only for the indians, but the Chinese too during Chinese New Year.
Payasam It looks like soup to everyone, but its a famous dessert for the Indians!
MALAY DESSERT Desserts and sweetmeats in Malaysia are diverse, due to the multi-ethnic and multicultural characteristics of its society. Malay desserts are made using coconut milk, fresh coconut and palm sugar. Athough traditional Malay and Nyonya desserts tend to share a common feature, however the amounts of coconut milk are used is different. Malay dessert mostly ranging from kuihs (desserts usually made from glutinous rice) and fried desserts as well as shaved ice. Kuih or Kueh are famous desserts among the Malays. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of variations to kueh, from the typical use of rice flour, natural food flavourings of squeezed pandan leaves up to the upbeat, in coconut milk as well as glutinous rice layers; all these could be found in almost all the stalls in Malaysia.
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When celebrating Ramadan in Malaysia, kuih bakar is a must to sell and mostly sold out in Ramadan Bazaars in Kelantan and Terengganu.
Kuih Bakar
Kuih bakar originally from East Coast and famous in Kelantan and Terenggsnu. At first this kuih is named Kuih Tepong Bunga ( flour flower kueh) as it looks like a flower shape. However, the name is only known by the olders, as they changed to Kuih Bakar in moden generations. While kuih bakar literally means ‘baked cake’ in Malay, bakar also means ‘burnt’, which is also appropriate in describing the signature brown ‘burnt’ crust of this sweet treat. It is typically baked in a large scallop-edged pan, or small flower moulds (akin to the size of a madeleine), with a light brown crust sprinkled generously with sesame seeds, enveloping a soft, chewy and dense sweet interior with a rich pandan (screwpine leaves) flavour and colour. With an immense souffle-like rise of the batter in the oven, and its gradual fall upon cooling, the kuih bakar has a rich texture, somewhat like a cross between a pudding and a cake, only that it’s much richer in taste.
Kuih bakar are moderately rich, sweet taste & custard-like texture is nicely covered by a golden & partly crunchy crust. And the fragrant pandan leaves & sesame seeds give a sweet aroma to the kuih.
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‘Kuih keria’ is a very popular Malaysian sweet ‘cake’ and resemble mini-donuts although the texture is really nothing like regular doughnuts. Kuih keria is a hole doughnut made from boiled sweet potato that is mashed. The mashed sweet potato is mixed with some tapioca flour and plain flour to give kuih keria a nice soft texture inside the fried ring, and the sugar frost coating renders a delightful sweet crunch.
Kuih keria in 1960’s were not the doughnut shape we see today. Back then, kuih keria used to be figure ‘8’, which have two holes in it. However, it had changed thru time. Kuih kerias sold by street vendors are usually orange, however if you’re lucky enough, you might find purple kuih kerias!
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Ais Kacang Ais Kacang, or Ais Batu Campur (ABC) – This dessert/snack is a definite favorite among nearly all Malaysians. It is basically shaved ice that is sitting on top of a melange of cooked red beans, cooked fresh corn kernels, different forms of jelly, and nuts. The shaved ice is usually flavored with a sugar syrup, rose petal syrup and e vaporated milk.
For modern ais kacang, there are other ingredients such as ice cream, banana, palm seed, fruit cocktail and different coloured jellies can be added.
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Ais kacang, ais, ais kacang ! Bila cuaca panas dan rasa dahaga, singgah di gerai, ais kacang diminta, susu dan jagung, kacang dan lengkung, air gula berwarna, campur semua, enak rasanya, kegemaran kita semua! Formerly, it was made of only shaved ice and red beans, though the number and diversity of ingredients has since expanded.Today, ais kacang generally comes in bright colours, and with different fruit cocktails and dressings. In Malaysia, almost all variants now contain a large serving of attap chee (palm seed), red beans, sweet corn, grass jelly and cubes of agar agar as common ingredients. Other less-common ingredients include aloe vera, cendol, nata de coco, or ice cream. A final topping of evaporated milk, condensed milk, or coconut milk is drizzled over the mountain of ice along with red rose syrup and sarsi syrup. Some stalls have even introduced novelty toppings such as durian, chocolate syrup and ice cream. There are also versions that shun the multi-coloured syrup and are served with just a drizzling of gula melaka syrup instead.
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The “Ais Kacang” song lyric form the childhood melodies.
This little bowl packs a huge explosion of flavours that work surprisingly well together. Many Southeast Asia coffee shops, hawker centres, and food courts offer this dessert.
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PERANAKAN DESSERT Nyonya Kueh or Straits Chinese Kueh (cakes) are made from a variety of fulsome and flavourful ingredients such as coconut milk, sweet potatoes, tapioca, palm sugar and pandan leaves. Presented together, they make up a colourful, pleasing platter, and thus are among the most popular items to be enjoyed during tea time, as a sweet dessert, and as part of the menu at festive occasions. Many Peranakan still spend time making kueh for their families, as they believe the more effort you put into preparing food for your family, the happier all will be.
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Bubur Cha Cha
its commonly sell in hawker centre or nyonya restaurants.
Bubur cha cha is one of the most famous peranakan dessert. Bubur cha cha is a colorful and sweet dessert, and is generally prepared during festive seasons in Penang, and a must have on Chap Goh Meh (the 15th and last day of Chinese New Year). Bubur Cha-Cha well-known and commonly found in Hong Kong/Cantonese-style cafes. Even in the United States, there are menu of some Asian cafes as Nanyang Bubur Cha-Cha (南洋摩摩喳喳). In Penang Hokkien dialects, bubur cha cha is pronounced bubur che che – and “che che” means abundance or plentiful. So, it’s considered auspicious to serve bubur cha cha to family and friends on that day. This dessert is a sweet concoction with various types of sweet potatoes ,yam or taro, sago (Tapioca peals), flour/cornstarch and coconut milk (santan). This dessert is with different types of sweet potatoes-yellow,white and purple- to make the dessert more colourful as it is more attractive and eye catching. The palm sugar gives Bubur Cha Cha a natural sweetness, special aroma and red brown colour. This dessert can be served warm or cold.
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Special Can you tell me the more of Peranakan? Peranakans are descendants of early Chinese migrants who settled in Penang, Malacca, Indonesia and Singapore, inter-marrying with local Malays.Peranakan practice diversed culture, both from Malay and Chinese. The word of Peranakan, is also used commonly to describe Indonesia Chinese. In both BM & Bahasa Indonesia, Peranakan” means descendant. Baba refer to the male descendants and Nyonya the female. Do you still practice Peranakan culture? Yes, and I think its a must to practice traditional culture. It is important because if we stop practicing the peranakan culture, the younger generation will unfortunately not aware of our own heritage or ancestry and these will be forgotten. For examples, we practice our own special dialect, a mixture of Malay and Hokkien. We celebrate Bai Tian Kong and Chap Goh Meh. I love being a Peranakan and being called a baba. I will definitely preserve our beautiful culture. Share more about traditional peranakan kuihs
Baba Charlie Baba Charlie Nyonya Cakes was established in 1988 in Melaka. This business was passing down by Baba Charlie’s grandmother to his mother and then himself. From door to door business, it has became one of the leading traditional Nyonya Cakes manufacturers in Melaka today. Baba Charlie started his business by selling just Nyonya Popiah (Spring Roll) and less than five types of Nyonya Cakes in night market. By improving his business he decided to make more variety of Nyonya Cakes. Now his products already reach more than thirty five types. Authentic nyonya kuihs were home-made using their traditional recipe. The cakes are produced daily to ensure its quality and freshness. Rephrasing the words of Adrian Lee, Baba Charlie’s son, nyonya cakes are not just simply delicacies, the process behind every kuih is the essence of the nyonya and baba spirit, encapsulating the long-forgotten perenakan culture. Here we have snippets from an interview with Adrian Lee, about his knowledge on peranakan and sharing about nyonya desserts.
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In our peranakan kuihs, our common flavoring ingredients are santan, coconut milk, blue pea flower, coconut sugar and pandan. We have few colours for kuihs, which blue is from blue pea flower, yellow is from custard jagung, green is from the leaves of pandan and cendol mixed together, and only red is from artificial colours. Every kuih has their own symbol. For example, for marriage, most of the kuih used are red colours : ang ku kueh and nine layer cakes as red symbolise wealth. For funeral event, most of peranakans will take black coloured kuih, however, if the funeral is for people death after 80, they will use red coloured kuih. For example, they will use 9layer cake in blue colours.
Is there any frustration in making kuihs? Frustration? Hmm. Only when I’m a kid I guess. Since I’m 5 years old, I already used to help my parents to make kuihs for bussiness. I get jealous when I saw small kids playing around our taman and I couldn’t. Besides that, I don’t think I have any frustration in making kuihs. I love to eat them as much I love to make them. (giggles)
What makes Baba Nyonya cake so successful? Our presentation on kuih has win all. For our ondeh-ondeh, we had pandan leaves to make it as a bowl to make it nicer. Not only ondeh-ondeh, we had most of our kuihs wrapped by pandan leaves. It’s traditional and it makes kuihs more beautiful and more fragnant.
Baba Charlie Nyonya Cake 72, Jalan Tengkera Pantai 2, 75200 Melaka Tel: 06-2847209 Daily: 10am to 4pm Closed on Thursdays
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Looking like a neon green tennis ball covered with whorls of white string, ondeh ondeh is another popular peranakan teatime snack. What makes it special is its core of gooey, brown palm sugar which acts as a sweet contrast to the green glutinous rice casing. Also called coconut poppers, the stringy white whorls on each ball are actually coconut shavings which give each ball a crunchy bite.
Ondeh After they pinch asmall piece of dough and flatten lightly, they Fill the center of the dough with palm sugar. They Roll the dough to form a smooth ball and cook the glutinous rice balls in the boiling water. When the rice balls float to the surface, they remove them with a slotted spoon and shake off the excess water.
The most important ingredient in ondeh-ondeh is the granted coconut. Once they shake off the excess water, they will coat the rice ball with granted coconut.
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The name “cendol” might come from the Indonesian word jendol, meaning “bump” or “bulge.” Based on its appearance, it is easy for one to understand why this dish has that name. Worm-shaped noodles that look like squiggly bumps and bulges are the main ingredient in the dish. The glutinous noodles are formed from mung bean, also called pea flour, as well as rice flour, with a little tapioca added. The green coloring and distinctive vanilla flavor comes from the leaves of the pandan plant.
Today, this dessert can be found at restaurants servings locals nyonya cuisines and at most food centres.
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The ingredients for cendol are few and relatively humble, but it is a dish that needs to have all its elements performing correctly in order to satisfy. The cendol itself is a mix of pea and rice flour, water, perhaps some pandan essence and green colouring, which is piped out into wriggly little bits that look like plump earthworms. Cendol is then mixed into coconut milk and sweet palm sugar syrup. Some variants offer red beans boiled in sugar syrup as well as the green cendol. Some vendors put in ice chips; others shave their ice into the coconut milk and ladle the syrup over it.
The delicously creamy chendol, is a traditional dessert that once sold on pushcarts during the 60s’ through the ‘80s.
Prior to the arrival of refrigeration in southeast Asia, cendol was served at room temperature. It still was a flavorful dish, but the addition of ice gave it an extra dimension and made it a favorite during warm weather. Although shaved ice is preferred, many cooks serve this dessert with chopped or even large cubes of ice.
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As important as the noodles are to cendol, it is the syrup, known as gula in Malaysia, that gives the dessert its distinctive and sweet taste. This simple syrup is created from palm sugar and water that is cooked until it turns thick and brown. Although other sugars and sweeteners can be used, many cendol lovers say that the rich and complex flavors of the palm gula are what make this dessert special.
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CHINESE DESSERT Chinese desserts ( Chinese: 甜點) are sweet foods and dishes that are served with tea, along with meals or at the end of the meals in Chinese cuisine. Malaysian traditional chinese dessert are mostly influenced by various culture from China country. The traditional dessert basicly can devided to several types, which are Gao, rice based snacks(Chinese: 糕/粿) , Soup or Tong Shui ( Chinese: 湯/糊) and Bing or biscuits ( Chinese: 餅). Rice based snacks that are typically steamed and may be made from glutinous or normal rice. Tong shui are soup made of sweet broths with various permutations and combinations of ingredients. Bing are baked with wheat flour based confections, these are either similar to the short-pastry crust of western cuisine or flaky like puff pastry.
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This popular dessert of southern Chinese origin belongs to the 糖水 tong sui (literelly means sugar water in Cantonese, tang shui in Mandarin) or sweet soup family. Like all other sweet soups, it has taken on a local identity with the added pandan leaves and coconut milk is sometimes added to here in Malaysia. It adds the beautiful grassy perfume to the already aromatic tong sui making it one of the most popular sweet dessert around.
Olders who experienced the brutal Japanese occupation in Malaya rarely eats sweet potatoes when the occupation ended. They mostly survived mainly on sweet potato porridge, sweet potato vines and wild greens as food was scarce and difficult to come by. When sugar was available on the very rare occasions, a small pot of this sweet soup was sometimes prepared to cheer up the little ones in the family.
Sweet Sweet Potato Soup Soup Potato
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Sweet potato soup is very easy to prepare. All you need is sweet potato, pandan leaves , sugar, sagu and ginger.
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According to Chinese, sweet potato soup is supposed to lower the “heat” of your body and too much heat in your body can lead to irritability, fever, and inflammatory conditions. Therefore, when weather is hot, it is suitable to drink this nice soup.
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Make your own! The key point of this dessert is to control the sweetness of the soup and texture of the sweet potatoes. The soup base cannot be too bland or too sweet and as for the sweet potato it must not be overcooked or else it will be too soft and affect the overall taste of this dessert. And to enhance the taste of the soup, you can also add in a few slices of ginger and some dried longan for that extra spicy taste and fragrant.
Serve hot as a afternoon dessert. It is equally delicious served chilled on hot day.
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The rice cake is one of the most delicious desserts of Chinese cuisine. One popular desert eaten during Chinese New Years is Nian Gao (年糕). One of the reasons it’s eaten during this time is because the words “nian gao (粘糕)”, meaning “sticky cake,” sounds just like the words 年高, which means something along the lines of “growing taller every year.” Similar to “a pinch to grow an inch,” this is just used to wish the person good health in the New Year.
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CHINESE Often eat this after chinese new year. They believe that ‘nian gao’ can bring them healthy and wealth to them
年 糕 Chinese Dessert | 24
Red Bean Soup
It’s Chinese favourite dessert! Make yourself! This is a traditional Chinese dessert and a popular dish among the Chinese. It can be eaten any day of the year, but does have special meaning during Chinese New Year’s (because of the red, added with glutinous rice balls filled with sweet black sesame!). This dessert can be served hot or cold and will vary in its content depending on the chef. The basic recipes really just calls for red beans, water and sugar, but many people will also add lotus seeds, black rice, glutinous rice balls and varying other ingredients to make it more rich and wholesome. Some people also will freeze the leftover dessert and make popsicles with them.
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Red bean soup is low in fat and a very tasty, healthy and protein rich sweet soup.It serves as a good dessert base and there is a good portion of fiber in the soup which is a excellent source of antioxidants, magnesium, iron, potassium and zinc. However, for those who have gout, consume with caution due to the amount of red beans used. Besides, take caution when adding sugar to sweet soups and add if it is too sweet, you can always add more later if needed.
Place the red beans, nto a big soup pot together with the water and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and allow to simmer for about 1 hour. Now add the sugar and turn the heat back up and stir until sugar is dissolved. Do a taste test and add more sugar if desired. Serve either hot or cold. Heat up some coconut milk in the microwave and place at the table.
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INDIAN DESSERT Indian dessert is the affinity for sweet desserts and spicy snacks. Indian cuisine is also strongly influenced by the Indian religion, Indian culture and traditions and the Indian people themselves. The tasty Indian dessert is mostly made out of crispy puris, puffed rice, Indian sevs, chilli powder, potatoes, red onion, chat masala, coriander and lemon or mango juice. It comes in two dish “versions�, spicy or sweet. Many Indian sweets, or mithai, are fried foods made with sugar, umin seeds, jaggery, sugar, tamarind pulp and boiled dates pulp.milk or condensed milk while the spicy chutney includes garlic cloves, mint leaves, salt and green chilies.
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Murruku is generally prepared to celebrate Indian festivities, especially Diwali, Krishna Jayanti and Vinayaka Chaturthi. The delicacy is often cooled right after its preparation and stored in an air-tight container to ensure its longevity. In many South-Indian households, the dish is prepared as a part of the grand feast on days of family gatherings and parties. Murukku is also known as chakli and chakri, is a South-Indian delicacy made from the blend of rice flour and urad. The dish is particularly famous in countries populated with Tamil descendants like Malaysia .Typically, Murukku tastes crispy and salty and appears in form of a coil.
Murukku is typically made from a mixture of urad and rice flour, salt, and flavourings such as chili, asafoetida, ajawain, cumin and other spices.
Murukkul
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Murukku is a fried snack made of rice and dal.
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Rava laddoo or rave unde, is a traditional Indian subcontinental sweet dish made out of rava, milk, sugar and cashews shaped as balls, one of the most popular south Indian sweet. Rava also spelled as Ravva,rawa, Rave, Sooji, Suji, Semolina. The ingredients to make Rava ladoo are easily available everywhere in the world. Rava laddoo is one of the easy sweet dish which can be prepared within 15 minutes. To them, festival proportions where sweers and savourise of a least twenty varieties including rave, were to lined up as an offering to their Lord. And, the whole members of the house, irrespective of age, are to constribute in to help make the desserts.
Prep work! 1. Keep the cashew bits about half the size of a raisin. Use kitchen scissors or a traditional Indian nut cracker for this job. 2.Wash and pat dry golden raisins. If not for the dirt, it makes them softer for the semolina balls to hold them well without dropping out. 3.A mortar and pestle brings out the best freshly ground cardamom. The one I have is of marble and I bank on it for all such small grinding work. 4.If using frozen coconut, thaw in the microwave for 10-20 secs or let sit on the counter for 30 mins before use.
Ravel Cardamom and Saffron are such classic eastern flavors. Saffron lends the faint sunshine yellow color to Rave Unde along with its mellow floral aromaarum.
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Fragrant rice is delicately flavored with cardamom and saffron; and along with the nuts and rose, this creamy, silky dessert will steal your heart.
Payasaml Payasam is what it is called in the southern parts of India, this pudding goes with many names; Payesh in the eastern regions and Kheer in the north regions are the more common ones. Payesh in the eastern regions of India have a very unique version made with gur/jaggery and it is pale brownish in color with a very different flavor than the pudding that is sweetened with sugar. The Indian rice pudding is a simple dessert where mostly rice or broken grains of rice is simmered in milk until cooked and is flavored with cardamom, saffron and sometimes rose water. Usually the long grain Basmati rice is used, but in the eastern regions of India, a short grain extremely fragrant rice called Kamini Bhog or Gobindo Bhog is also used to make Kheer. Unlike a lot of rice puddings in other cuisines, Indian rice pudding uses no egg. The creamy custard like texture is achieved by slowly simmering the milk and therefore thickening and reducing it with constant stirring. While Kheer is a common term for rice puddings, it can also refer to puddings made with milk and vermicilli, semolina or tapioca pearls. It’s the quintessential dessert of the Indian cuisine. This traditional Indian pudding does not just round off the meal in an occasion at home, at a restaurant, or in festivities; it is a comfort food. And this ever popular dessert is also much revered, as it is often offered as a “prasad� during worship.
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