Thursday, October 05, 2006

Traditional Kueh [cake]...




I love traditional cake. In the Malay world it is Kueh. Kueh is a sort of cake. I am not sure whether it is a right translation for the Malay word Kueh to mean cake, like the western cakes. Traditional Malay cakes are mostly made by boiling in water or by frying in vegetable oil. Only a few like the Buah Hulu are made using the traditional oven. The traditional Malay oven is actually a copper pan with two parts, where at the bottom fire is lighted and above on the cover hot glowing amber are placed to create the heat needed to cook as in an oven.

Above are two of my favorites Kueh, the green one is the Buah Melaka [loosely translated it is Malacca Fruit]. This cake is made from glutinous rice flour. The glutinous flour is made into a soft dough. Pandan leave is use to create the green color. Small round dough with a piece of coconut sugar in it are made and then boil in hot boiling water. Once it is cooked, it would float. It is taken out and then dunk into freshly scrap coconut. The other in slightly red in color is the Kueh Sago or Sago cake. It is made from small bead sago which is colored as you like and then slow cooked and after that it is cut into small pieces and then dunk into freshly scrap coconut, just like the Buah Melaka. And Voila!! It is ready to eat. It is sweet and make great desserts. We had these homemade traditional Kueh for the Buka Puasa this week.

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