Saturday, August 29, 2009

Nyonya Kuih Genggang

I'm off tomorrow to HK for a week of holiday! Yippeeee...as it means lots of good food, dim sum and flea market shopping! But before that, here's the traditional and popular Nyonya 'kuih genggang' which I made for M, a good friend of mine.
Other than in my hometown, Melaka, kuih genggang is more widely known by its commercial name - kuih lapis or layered cake - throughout Malaysia. There isn't any direct English translation for kuih and the closest is cake. However, unlike cakes as we understand them in the Western world, kuih refers to the traditional local cakes in Malaysia & Singapore and they are often made of plain flour or rice flour or glutinous rice flour or tapioca starch flour or wheat starch flour etc. Given that Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country, one can enjoy a wide variety of kuih- Nyonya kuih, Chinese kuih, Malay kuih etc. Kuih are normally either steamed, grilled or baked, and for Nyonya & Malay kuih, coconut milk is often a main ingredient.

Kuih genggang is easy and cheap to do, and also delicious to eat. Its texture is sticky and gooey. It is a favorite tea time treat for many. Kids enjoy eating it by peeling off a layer by a layer. It is made by steaming it a layer by a layer also but it doesn't take very long to complete. It is best eaten on the same day that it's made as it can't keep for very long.

(Other variety of Nyonya food from Malaysia can be found at Nyonyafood.com).

kuihgenggang

Recipe:
- 180 g rice flour
- 200 ml water
Mix the above together and leave aside for 1 hour.

- 180 g sugar
- 350 ml water
- 2 srewpine (pandan) leaves, knotted
Boil the above together and leave the sugar syrup to cool.

- 250 ml thick coconut milk
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1-2 drops red/pink coloring

- Add the coconut milk, salt and sugar syrup into the rice flour mixture after 1 hour. Stir well and divide the portion equally into 2. Color one of it with 1-2 drops red/pink coloring.
- Heat up an 8 inch round pan in a steamer setting. Grease it lightly with cooking oil first. Pour half cup of the white batter, cover the steamer with lid and steam for 5 mins or until the layer is cooked. Do the same with the next batch of 1/2 cup red/pink batter. For the final top layer, you can add more red/pink coloring to distinguish it or for presentation sake. (Note: make sure to give the batter a really good stir each time before taking 1/2 cup to pour for steaming). Leave to cool completely before cutting into diamond shape.

Cheers, have a great week ahead & see you next weekend!

33 comments:

  1. I remember most kids love to eat this and they like to peel the layers one by one. I did that too :)

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  2. hi *Anncoo*, even as an adult, I still do that..peel layer by layer. Sigh, the kid in us never completely leaves :D

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  3. We have this kind of kue too in Indonesia :) But I'm not so sure of the name, must ask my mom since her family is peranakan.

    Have a wonderful trip in Hongkong.

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  4. Have a wonderful trip in Hong Kong, show us a lot of photos ya, I will go there soon. This kuih lapis taking a lot of time to prepare and since my kids doesn't like it so much, so I would rather just buy 1-2pcs from wet market, never prepare before.Anyway, your kuih look delicious..

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  5. hi *Selba* & *Sonia*, thanks, hope my HK trip will be a fruitful one :D

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  6. I am so jealous that you're going to Hongkong...!!! I wish I could go there too...:(

    Your kuih looks good. As Selba said, we also have this type of cake in Indonesia. I think it's called kue lapis beras or kue pepe.

    Should make this again one day, but I'm sure not anytime soon, because it's so time consuming!

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  7. What a fun treat! Hope you have a great vacation!

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  8. wow i basically grew up with this kuih! just awesome! layers after layers!

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  9. this makes me recall my childhood, eating it layer by layer....! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

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  10. Enjoy HKG! We enjoy nyonya kuih once in a while and this is one of my favourites.Texture got to be right tho and the layer does not fall aprt on peeling.

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  11. Good to hear Bella is better and her appetite's back :)

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  12. Oh, am so sorry, petit nyonya. Was so distracted , I clicked the wrong button. Really sorry.

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  13. lovely kuih lapis!! must try to make this one days soon since I have the cake flour...btw...happy vacation in HK!! don't forget to eat fishball in curry sc at Ladies St..

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  14. This looks like it would take patience to make! It's really quite beautiful!

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  15. i have just make a batch of jelly with 2 layers: caffe latte with a little baileys and coconut cream :)

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  16. This is marvelous! How I miss these kinds of cakes - that is, ones made with flours other than wheat. I hope you have a wonderful holiday in HK.

    Thank you so much for your comments on my blog and I apologize for taking so long to finally visit your site. Now that I'm here, I love it! I so look forward to learning more about Peranakan/BabaNyonya cuisine and this will be such a delight on your blog. 8-)

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  17. I love and miss HK! Enjoy your trip, can't wait to hear about it ^^

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  18. That's beautiful! Enjoy your holiday!

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  19. Nyonya, thanks for visiting my blog! I am SOOOO... glad you found me. As an Indonesian-born American, I was fortunate enough to grow up eating all of these yummy Indonesian/Malay type of food--but I didnt get to learn how to make it. Your blog brings back so many memories!

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  20. The texture looks amazing! I tried making once and it turned out quite hard. Bookmarking this! Have fun in hk!

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  21. Enjoy your week in Hongkong! I lived there (1992) and loved it!

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  22. hey, so you are back! c'mon, update us about your trip with a lot of pictures!!

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  23. Hi *Everyone*..thanks so much for your comments and well wishes for my trip :D. I had a great time, but time flies & I wished I had a longer stay in HK.

    p/s *Cooking Gallery*, it's not that time consuming actually to make this 'kueh'. do give it a try :D

    p/s *Tangled Noodle*.. thanks :D. there's nothing to apologize about but thanks for visiting too :D

    p/s *blissfullydelicious*, thanks for visiting too :D

    p/s *pigspigscorner*...happy trying & hope this recipe will turn out fine for you :)

    p/s *cooking practice*, will post pics soon :D. i miss HK already :(

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  24. Hi Jos! Jen sent me your blog and i was just going thru it...always love to eat kuih genggang when i was a kid..remembered my late grandma used to do it and me peeling the layers one by one and eating all the white ones first and kept the red one aside as it was my favorite and it was thinner than the white ones...never thought that it was so simple to make it until i read yr blog...will try it definitely..great job you and your sis are doing this..helps people like me who loves to eat all this food but never attempt to do it becoz I feel that there's too much work involve..thanks to your sis i now know how to make pulut inti but i still havent mastered ondeh ondeh n i love that soooo much too..keep up the good work and i so want to try the kuah lada..been years since i ate it...susah to find white peppercorns here have to search at an asian store and hopefully find it and then i can try making it..cheers madam!!!Amelia

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  25. Disappointed!!!!!!

    I loved to eat this Nyonya Kuih Genggang during my childhood. Very delighted to find this receipe posted on the website.
    Immediately, I tried to make this kuih following your recipe. But,
    very disappointed that the recipe given is incorrect.

    1. After steaming the 1st white layer for 5 min, then add the 2nd red layer, both batter merged together. Once this happened, I knew this is no the right recipe given.

    If you want to post your recipe, please share all the ingredients correctly.

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  26. anonymous, too bad yours didn't turn out successful. this recipe which i made and posted is taken from a book titled Nonya Flavors. perhaps you want want to complain to the publisher (The star)/author if yours didn't turn out well at all.

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  27. I have a party coming up and am thinking of making kuih lapis. This sounds great! Just wondering about the different flours used in different recipes, what's the difference between the ones with lots of tapioca four as compared to this with lots of rice flour?

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  28. Pigpigscorner, yes, some recipes use a mixture of tapioca flour. The aim is to make it more 'kenyal' or bouncy in texture. However, the amount of rice flour should always be more than the amount of tapioca/sago flour (around 70/30 ratio). If the recipe calls for more tapioca flour than rice flour, then I don't think it is accurate. Also, just a note, when you steam a layer, 5 mins is a gauge as everybody's stove and steamer functions with heat differently. I think this is where 'Anonymous' above was not very experienced with and therefore, her steaming failed. Best is, use a toothpick and test for doneness before pouring in the next layer to avoid two layers mixing up. So far, this recipe is pretty good and 2 of my personal friends who have tried it liked it too.

    If you want to try a recipe that uses tapioca/sago flour, it is available on this blog which carry many nyonya kuehs- http://nonya-kueh.blogspot.com/2005/12/nonya-kueh-lapis.html. I personally have not tried this recipe before but I think it will turn out good also.

    Happy trying and look forward to know how yours turn out. Cheers!

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  29. I must must must make this. I miss it so much. Cantik sekali itu kueh.

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  30. Pretty effective piece of writing, thanks for the post.

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