I was at a my friend’s baby first month party earlier this year and his mom made a Filipino cassava cake that reminded me of the Malaysian bengka ubi.  At that time, the Malay name just slipped me, and Marco keeps on calling it the Tagalog name bibingka.  When I finally recalled the Malaysian name, I was pleasantly surprised at how similar the Malay word is to its Filipino cousin!  Of course, in Malaysia, we refer the tuber with the British word, tapioca.

My grandmother used to make this steamed “kuih” for sale, and my dad taught me how to make the kuih eons ago.  I had forgotten about it until I bit into the wonderful sweet and chewy cake at David’s.  I remember peeling the tubers and grating the tapioca tubers and carefully avoiding the bitter heart that runs along the tuber.  I love the smell of fresh tapioca, and grating it leaves your hands tapioca smelling fresh all day.

Chef’s tip:  The frozen version works just as well (sans fragrant hands!).  You can find the frozen version in most Asian stores.  David’s mother glazed the top with condensed milk to give it a nice golden brown topping.

2 lbs cassava, grated or if using frozen, thawed
3/4 cup sugar or palm sugar
1 can (400 ml) about 1 2/3 cups coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1. Squeeze out excess water from the cassava.  Let the strained juice sit 10 mins.  Discard top clear water and add back the settled starch to the cassava.
2. Mix together all the ingredients.  Transfer to an oiled pan.
3. Bake in 400F oven for 40  mins.
4. Place under broiler for a few minutes to brown the top.
5. Let cool before cutting.

Tags: Dessert, Malaysian.

My grandmother used to make and sell nyonya “kuih”.  I wish she was still around so that I can pick up the right skills from her!

Chef’s tip: The green is natural from the pandan leaves.  Besides adding fragrance to the cake, it gives it this beautiful green color.  Blending the leaves with a little water and then extracting the liquid is how you get pandan juice.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sweet glutinous rice
1 cup coconut milk
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 pieces pandan

8 pandan leaves
½ cup water

3 eggs
¾ cup coconut milk
¾ cup sugar
6 Tablespoons pandan juice (see step 5)

1 Tablespoon corn starch
1 ½ Tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon rice flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Banana leaves

Preparing the rice.
1.    Wash the rice. Add water till it covers the rice by 1 inch. Let rice soak at least 6 hours to overnight.
Cooking the rice
2.    Drain rice.  Place the rice in a cake pan lined with banana leaves.   Place in a steamer rack.
3.    Combine sugar and salt with the coconut milk.  Add to the rice.  Bury a knot of pandan leaves in the rice.  Steam for about 20 minutes.
4.    When rice is done, remove the pandan leaves.  Using a piece of banana leaves or aluminum foil, flatten the rice down to form an even compact layer.  Steam for another 10 minutes.
Preparing the pandan juice
5.    Chiffonade the pandan.  Place the pandan and water in a blender and puree.  Strain out solids.  Reserve juice.
Preparing the custard
6.    In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut milk, sugar and pandan juice.  Set aside.
7.    Place the 3 different flours and salt in a bowl and whisk to mix.  Slowly add the liquid egg mixture, a little at a time, and incorporate till it is smooth and there are no more lumps.
8.    In a double boiler, heat the custard, stirring constantly till just begins to thicken.  Remove form heat.
Completing the serimuka
9.    Pour the thickened custard over the compressed and steam over low heat for another 20 minutes, or until set.
10.    Allow to cool completely before cutting.

Serves: 8

Tags: coconut, Dessert, Malaysian.

“Sesame Ball” is probably the most popular choice on the dim sum dessert tray.  Who can resists eating these crunchy on the outside, glutinous rice balls  that is filled with adzuki red bean paste.  On first bite, the ball collapses into a chewy, tasty mass full of sweet “dou sha” and nutty sesame.

You can use the same dough and cooking method and fill the pastry with other sweet bean paste such as lotus seeds paste or a peanut-sugar mix.  Or for a savory version, aka “jin dui”, you can add a mixture spiced mince pork with cilantro and water chestnut.

Chef’s tip: When making the dough, it is critical that the water is boiling hot in order to cook the starch that binds the rice flour together.  Also see Step 11 instructions on how to carefully deep fry the balls to get that perfect spherical shape.

Red bean paste:
1 cup of Adzuki red beans, soaked, drained
3/4 cup sugar or more to taste
3 pandan leaves (optional), each tied into a knot
¼ cup of canola oil
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Dough:
3 ½ cups glutinous rice flour
½ cup wheatstarch
2 Tablespoon sugar
1 ½ cup boiling water, and more depending on dough
3 tablespoon shortening

1 cup water
1 cup sesame seeds
6 cups canola oil

Preparing the red bean paste filling:
1.    Place the red beans in a pot with 2 pieces of the pandan.  Cover with 2 inches of water over the beans and simmer 1-1 ½ hours till beans have softened.  Add more water if needed.  Drain.
2.    Pass the beans through a food mill or place into a food processor.
3.    In a non stick pan, heat oil, add sugar and the pureed beans and 1 pandan leave tied into a knot.
4.    Constantly stir the paste. Cook for 10 minutes until the bean paste is dry.  Cool.
Preparing the dough:
5.    Combine the glutinous rice flour, wheat starch and sugar.   Form a well in the center. Gradually add the boiling water, stirring until a ball forms.  Add more hot water if needed,
6.    Cool a little, while still warm, knead in the shortening, a little at a time.  Transfer to a lightly floured board and knead for a few minutes until soft and smooth.
7.    Divide the dough into 2 balls. Roll each piece of dough into a 1 ½ inch cylinder.  Cut each cylinder into 12 pieces, and roll into a ball — making a total of 24 balls.  Cover as you work.
Assembly:
8.    Take a piece of dough, flatten it.  Add 1 teaspoon of the red bean paste mixture. Gently pack the filling down. Gather the edges of the dough over the filling and squeeze together the edges of the dough pressing to seal securely. Roll between palms to form a ball.
9.    Place water and sesame seeds in separate breading pans.
10.    Dip a ball into the water (this will help the sesame seeds stick to the ball) to moisten the ball.  Then roll the ball over the sesame seeds.  Place on a baking sheet.  Repeat the process with the remainder of the balls.
Frying  the balls:
11.    Heat  canola oil over medium-high heat until 330F.  Drop several sesame balls into the oil and fry till golden brown, about 7 minutes each.  As the balls float to the surface (2 minutes), begin to press them gently with the back of a metal spatula against the sides of the pot. The balls will expand as they are gently rotated and pressed. Fry until golden brown, or when they have expanded 3x their size.  Immediately drain on a wire rack over a baking sheet.
12.    Serve immediately.

Serves: 24 portions

Tags: Cantonese, Chinese, Dessert, dim sum, sweet.