A few days ago, even as I was hacking away intermittently, I decided to try something new. Just because I was feeling bored. The beauty of having a domestic helper I realised is that I have pockets of free time available. And I have somebody to store away the dishes after ( I love washing dishes so I clean most of the things I use in the kitchen) ;P
Since I had a packet of glutinous rice in my cupboard, I thought I’d make good use of it. I trawled the internet for a good recipe for ‘puteri salat’ but I couldn’t find many. That’s because in different regions, the kuih is called by other names. Seri Muka for one. Or Nyonya Kueh. Anyway, I found two rather simple ones, but I didn’t follow the recipes to the T. Firstly, I only had a small aluminium pan that could barely fit into my steamer pot. Secondly, I didn’t have a piece of banana leaf to press down the glutinous rice (I used plastic). Thirdly, I could only use pandan leaves from The Hubby’s garden outside. This is how I made the kuih.
First, I made pandan juice. Easy Peasy. Just blend 6-8 pandan leaves with water and strain. Get about 200 ml of juice.
Before this, I had soaked the whole packet of glutinous rice in a container for roughly 3 hours. But what I used was just enough to cover half the aluminium pan. I mixed the rice with one packet of coconut cream and salt. I steamed the whole thing for about 20 minutes till done. After that, I fluffed the rice, pressed down a second time till even and steamed for a further 10 minutes.
To make the topping, I beat 3 eggs with palm sugar. I added in one packet of coconut cream, the pandan juice and 2 tablespoons of plain flour and heat the mixture over a small fire till its fairly cooked. It should thicken slightly. After that I strained the mixture and poured the smooth paste over the steamed rice and cooked again.
The outcome? It looked alright but I didn’t like it because the rice was too bland. I thought it was tasteless. I should have put in more salt. Coconut and salt are best friends. When I gave some to my mother, she said it wasn’t sweet enough but the rice was very nice. (puzzled) She told me not to use gula melaka but regular castor sugar. This weekend I shall make one more batch and if it turns out perfect, I will post the exact recipe here. In the meantime, this is how my very first attempt at making a kuih looks like:
The texture, the look was all fine. I just have to remember MORE SALT and MORE SUGAR. Forget the high blood pressure and diabetes. ;p
The Occasional Cook 