Thursday, December 9, 2010

Kuih Talam (Coconut Tray Cake) 娘惹香草糕 - Featured in Group Recipes


Microwave Kuih Talam?

This is another classic Nyonya dessert. Kuih is a common local Malaysian word for all Nyonya and Malay desserts. This popular kuih not only is one of Malaysian all-time breakfast favorite but also serves as great party snacks. This steamed coconut flavor rich dessert comes with top white layer made from coconut milk and rice flour and the bottom green layer is made from rice and mung bean flour with natural green coloring extract from pandan leaves a.k.a screw pine leaves.

The instruction in the original recipe suggested cooking time of 1 hour, requiring slow simmering or double boiling in the kuih thickening process before steaming. I reckoned this traditional way of thickening process was quite time consuming. It struck my mind whether I could adopt the same microwave method that I applied in coconut egg jam, Kaya making to speed up the process.

I gave it a try with the microwave method on my first tray. My first attempt was not as impressive as I was trying to find out the right time required to microwave-cook the batter to the right concentration before placing it into steaming tray for steaming. I over heated the green layer resulting in the green layer batter was over thickened and lumpy.

However, since I had another half tin of coconut cream to experiment further, I proceeded with my second attempt. This time I knew that I shouldn't heat the green batter for more than 4 minutes in total and each session no more than 1 minute. It should be stirred constantly after every time it is taken out from the microwave. As for the white coconut cream batter, it only took about 2 minutes to thicken. I repeat the heating process more often with last minute at 30 seconds interval. The result, as can be seen from the photo, is a nicer smoother batter for both the green and white layers. J

I didn't expect my little picky boy appreciate this classic kuih so much.





KUIH TALAM (COCONUT TRAY CAKE)


Serves 6-8
Preparation time : 20minutes
Cooking time : 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS

Green layer
50g (1/3 cup + 2 tbsp) rice flour
4 tsp tapioca flour
1 tbsp mung bean (green pea) flour
160g ( 2/3 cup + 4tsp) sugar
100ml(1/3 cup) Pandan juice
250ml(1 cup) water
¼ teaspoon alkaline water (replaced with baking soda solution if not available)

Baking soda solution making:
1 part baking soda dissolved in 1 part water

Pandan juice making:
Rinse the 6-8 pandan leaves and cut into small pieces, place in blender and add 150ml water and process until pulverized. Strain and discard the solids. Measure the required amount in the recipes.

If Pandan leaves unavailable replace with Pandan essence or vanilla essence + green coloring and add the required amount of water to make green solution.

Coconut cream layer
2 tbsp rice flour
1 tbsp + 2 tsp mung bean flour
¼ teaspoon salt
250ml(1cup) thick coconut cream

METHOD





1. Combine all the 3 types of flour in a mixing bowl and mix in the sugar.
2. Pour in the Pandan juice and water and mix until well combined and add in alkaline water.

3. Instead of using the traditional double boiling method to thicken mixture, I speed up the slow simmering   process with the microwave method that I applied in Kaya making.
4. Pop the batter in microwave oven and set the microwave for 1 min on high heat. Remove and stir with wire whisk. Put it back in and repeat with the same power setting and time until mixture thickens slightly. I repeated 4 times to get this texture with last minutes at 30 seconds interval.
5. Beware not to microwave heat longer than 1 min for each session, this will make mixture lumpy.
6. Strain batter into a steaming tray and steam with medium heat until set about 15-20 minutes. Tilt the tray to test, the mixture shouldn't wobble.
7. While steaming the green layer, at the last 5 minutes start to prepare for the coconut cream layer.
8. Combine the rice and mung bean flour and salt into a mixing bowl; gradually pour in coconut cream, stir well until smooth.
9. Repeat the same microwave process on step 4 for coconut mixture. Zap for 1 min on high heat.
10.Remove and stir with wire whisk. Put it back in and repeat with the same power setting and time until mixture thickens slightly. I repeated 2 times with last minutes at 30 seconds interval to thicken the cream batter.
11.Strain the coconut cream batter on to green layer, steam with medium heat for another 15 minutes.

Cool thoroughly before cutting. (Best to cut after chilling in fridge for a while).

Note:
The microwave timing is very much depending on the power of your microwave, mine is 800 Watt. Best to repeat more often with less microwave time per session to get a smoother batter.


娘惹香草糕


材料


绿色
50克(1 / 3+ 2汤匙)米粉
4茶匙木薯粉
1汤匙绿豆粉
160克(2 / 3+ 4茶匙)糖
100毫升(1 / 3杯)香兰汁
250毫升(1杯)水
¼茶匙水(或用苏打溶液代替)
苏打溶液制作:
1份小苏打溶解于1
兰汁制作:
6-8片兰叶洗净,切成小块,放入搅拌器,加入150毫升水,打至成汁去渣,取食谱所需份量

如果无法找到/兰叶。 用香草精+绿色色素取代
2汤匙粘米粉
一汤匙+2茶匙绿豆粉
¼茶匙盐
250毫升(1杯)椰浆

制作:


浆上
1。将所有的3种面粉放入搅拌碗中加入糖拌匀, 再加入班兰汁,水和碱水搅拌均匀。
2。为了加快烹饪时间,我采用微波法而不是使用传统的慢火搅煮至浓。
3。放入微波炉用1分钟高温,取出并搅拌把它放回并重复用相同的功率设置直到粉浆变稠。
4。我重复了4次微波,绿色粉浆才变稠。小心不要微波超过1分钟不然粉浆易成块状。
5。把稠了的绿色粉浆过滤到一个蒸盘,蒸约15-20分钟至凝结。
6。在蒸绿色层的最后5分钟,开始准备椰浆粉浆。
7。把椰浆层的材料加入碗中搅拌,逐步倒入椰浆,搅拌至均匀。
8。重复以上第4的过程用微波炉把椰浆粉浆变稠。我微波2次椰浆粉浆才变稠。
9。把稠了的椰浆粉浆慢慢过滤倒在绿色粉浆层上,用中火蒸约15分钟至熟。
10。之後移出冷却後入冰箱冷藏一下,冰凉後即可切块食用


注意:
微波时间取决于你的微波炉的功率,我的微波炉是800瓦。最好更频繁重复微波减少微波时间以避免粉浆过以稠至块状。

40 comments:

  1. Yin, this is my favorite nyonya kueh and it is very hard to find really good ones. thanks for the recipe and I must try making this. Your nyonga kueh talam looks so fabulous. There is an Stylish Blogger Award to be claimed by you at my blog. It was given to me by Elisabeth and one of the rules is to pass on to other bloggers whom I think are fantastic and you are one of them in my list. Thanks again for sharing with us all the wonderful stories and recipes. HUGS!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yummm my chilhood kue too!!! Glad to know that your boy likes it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ahhhhh...i've had this indonesian sweet in heartland mall kovan singapore. i loved and loved and loved....it.
    stop doing this to me girl! and i'm not able to keep up with you. you're posting too fast. ask aunty to rest for a while.

    you've another award to pick from my blog. congrats.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yin, I love kuih talam, yours looks perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  5. hhhmmmm....Yin Dear... truly, U remind me of my childhood and this "jajanan" sooo popular that time ! ... hmmm.. U did great job girl ! :))

    ReplyDelete
  6. This looks AWESOME!... Very impressive look. Thank you very much for sharing. All the best. Luna

    ReplyDelete
  7. Looks yummy, I'm drooling right now.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is so pretty...but gotta say...can't get over that roasted pork!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lovely! The color is just wonderfully appealing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Everyday one learns something new! Thank you for sharing ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  11. The microwave part caught my attention. :D I'm definitely going to try this out. Beautiful looking kuihs, Yin!

    ReplyDelete
  12. i love the Filipino version of this dish called buko-pandan. it exactly has coconuts and pandan. i'm sure i'm gonna love your kuih talam coconut tray too! :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. wanna try it too :)

    nanged u :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. fantastic cooking skills you have and surely a delicious recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  15. thanks for sharing the step by step! really help to alleviate my fears...i love local kuihs but always too scared try to make them.

    ReplyDelete
  16. 你好,我无法找到“绿豆粉”,不用放吗??还是要用什么做代替??

    ReplyDelete
  17. excellent worked i like it very much its away from me if close to me i will order these foods immediately thanks for have nice views uploaded nice pictures (mumtaz4h@hotmail.com)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Khan:
      Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy my other recipes too. Hope to hear from you again.

      Delete
  18. yin, Thank you for sharing this wonderful kuih talam recipe....i have been craving for this kuih ever since i moved to US and now i can make my own Kuih Talam no matter where i am. But i have a problem here...can you tell me 1 part of soda means how much ? 1/4 teaspoon of soda mix with 1/4 teaspoon of water ? hope to hear from you soon.

    Thanks again,
    Regi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Regi:
      Hi nice to have you here, great that my little sharing here get to cure your craving, really can understand your feeling.
      Yup that's the ratio, 1 to 1, hope you get a nice kuih talam,keep me update on your trying.

      Delete
  19. may i know is tapioca flour same as tapioca startch? how big should the pan be?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi:
      Yes, you can use tapioca startch. I couldn't remembered but I think about 10". I left the pan in Auckland with my friend.

      Delete
  20. Hi Yin, may I know how to get rid of alkaline water or soda? In order to make the kuih more solid? Thks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Penny:
      sorry, I dont think I know any substitutes for these 2.
      It's ok to do away the alkaline water, just that the taste of the Kuih will not be that bouncy and QQ but it will still in solid form.

      Delete
    2. Thanks a lot Yin. Will try again.
      By the way, i tried last week,the santan part was not as smooth as urs after came out from microwave. My microwave is1100 watt. I only did at 1min high for 2 times, and 30 seconds for 1 time.
      Can I just pour the santan mixture ( wothout cookin microwave) direct on ( the pandan mixture after abt 20min when the pandan part cooked

      Delete
    3. Penny:
      You have to cook the santan mixture, you cant just pour over the cooked pandan, the steaming process not long enough to cook the mixture.
      You microwave is higher watt than mine, mine just 800watt. Hence I would advise you to reduce to 40/30 minutes and perform more frequently to get the right consistency then strain.

      Delete
    4. Oops, sorry 40/30 seconds on microwave.

      Delete
  21. Just tried ur recipe, added in 1/4 tsp baking soda dissolve in 1/4 tsp water. Texture is soft not Q.
    Why?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Penny:
      Frankly, I didn't try the soda solution before I use alkaline or lye wate, coz easily available. However how was the taste of the kuih beside soft, kuih still in solid shape?

      Delete
    2. Yin:
      Yes, the taste is nice and really smell good pandan, as I added in real pandan leaves.
      Without any alkaline water or baking sado, it really cant stand up.
      So I tried again and added in baking soda instead of alkaline water, 1/4 tsp dissolve in 1/4 tsp water, looks a bit solid and can stand up. But still not as solid as we expected.
      I let my frens taste my kuih talam, besides the solidness, we all find out the sugar level for ur recipe (160g) sugar is a bit too sweet. I will keep on trying till succeed.
      Thanks.

      Delete
    3. Dear Penny:
      Thumb up for your good efforts. Yes, do reduce the sugar l evel to your preference. My family members all mostly sweet tooth, to them is just nice.

      Few factors to look into why your kuih soft:
      1) after microwave the mixture, was the mixture still runny? can you draw lines with spatula on the mixture?
      2) were you using fresh santan or package?
      if santan not thick try to reduce water ratio to have the right consistency.

      Delete
    4. Hi Yin,
      1) pandan mixture was very sticky after out from microwave. Soft... I worry if i continue one more round in microwave, it will become 'real kuih'.
      2) yes, am suing fresh santan milk. My santan layer is just nice n stick to the pandan layer. I have no problem on the santan layer.

      Thanks for ur advise.

      Delete
  22. JUST CONFIRM YOUR RECIPE SUGAR ITS 160G, I USE YOUR RECIPE KUIH NO Q ,PANDAN JUICE I BUY FROM OUTSIDE I FOLLOW YOU PUT 100ML TOO MANY THE KUIH TASTE TOTALLY CANNOT EAT.

    ReplyDelete
  23. KUIH TOO SWEET AND PANDAN TASTE TOO HEAVY.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hi Yin, thanks for this excellent recipe.
    I should not have listened to comments on the site saying your amount of sugar is excessive. I added 2/3 cup instead and it's not sweet enough. But still very nice. I look forward to using more of your recipes. Terima kasih and God bless you.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Dear Chez,
    Glad to know that the recipe is not that bad after all. I guess taste testing really very subjective. I'm so pleased that you find my site informative to you, this will motivate me to continue to share more tasty recipes.
    Hope to see drop by more often.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Hello Sis Yin
    accidently drop by and thanks for sharing such a good recipe. Is there a way to substitute the green pea flour?
    thanks
    regards
    megan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Megan:
      Sorry for the late reply. I am not sure since the quantity not significantly much, you can try using corn flour.

      Delete
  27. Hi Yin,
    I've tried your recipe over the weekend and it was great. Loved the texture. Had been trying many kueh talam recipes but all of them did not have the right texture. I did reduce your sugar by 20g to 130g as I thought it just a little bit sweet. Otherwise, just followed everything else from the recipe. Loved it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Foon Lam,
      Thanks for dropping by and trying out my recipe. So glad that you have a great success and like the taste.

      Delete

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