Steam Kueh Lapis 九层糕

Among so many different type of kueh, my girl loves Steam Kueh Lapis 九层糕 the most.

I think it has to do with the approach of eating it.  I recalled when I was young, I will peel layer by layer, savouring each layer as I go along.  To a kid, this is a fun way of eating this kueh kueh.  I did notice that my girl eat it the same way too.  Are you the same as us?  Eating it layer by layer?

Anyway, I did try steaming this kueh once but I failed because my steamer was tilted.

I was told that in the early days, Steam Kueh Lapis only uses two type of flour.  It was only later on, Sago flour was added to give the shine to this kueh.  How true I really don't know.  Perhaps Peranakan friends can enlighten me.

With that information, this leads me to do a search for this kueh using sago flour and I came upon @kokken's blog which eventually lead me to Travelling foodies'.

I decided to use Travelling foodies' portion as his was already downsized and that fits my family's intake.  @kokken's also has the 4th type of flour and that heightens my curiosity.

Enough said, this is my little treat to my little girl.  She has been just so wonderful cooking meals for her injured brother.  

Sorry picture reflect a not so good kueh as it was still warm when I cut and photographed it.


Learning: I used Cocomas coconut milk as it was what I had on hand.  I usually buy Kara but I can't recall for what reason I had this.  

As I was pouring the milk into the flours, I noticed that it is very diluted.  Totally different consistency as Kara's.  

Thus I decided to hold back the syrup.  In the end, I only used 600ml.

I had prepared pandan extract from my pandan plant.  So I opted for two tone rather than 3.

My layering was off balance too because i used a 8oz scoop initially but decided to switch to a soup ladle instead.   Strangely the pandan layer is thinner than the plain layer despite using the same ladle after.

Verdict: The texture is good, it has this QQ texture, not too soft nor too hard.  Surprising I like the sweetness (now I wonder if I added in all, will it be too sweet for us?)

Overall, I won't consider this a success as I had a few blunder but am sure this is a keeper.

Reference: @kokken and Travelling Foodies,  Patricia Lee’s 娘惹风味糕点, Do what I like

What you need:

288g tapioca flour

90g sago flour
21g mung bean flour
30g rice flour
432ml thick coconut milk
390g sugar
600ml water
3-4 pandan Leaves, knotted
Pinch of salt
Food colouring (red and green)

Method : 

Grease a 7″ square baking tin with a little oil.  Place a piece of oiled banana leaves at the base.   Set aside.

Place pandan leaves and sugar in a pot of boiling water.  Stir until sugar dissolved.

Strain the syrup and dilute with water to make to 900ml.

Using a whisk, mix flours and salt well.

Pour in the coconut milk a little at a time and mix till smooth. Set aside.

Pour the pandan flavoured syrup into the flour mixture. Stir constantly till well blended. 

Strain the batter.

Divide mixture into 3 portions. Leave one portion uncoloured.  

Mix each of the other 2 portions with red and green colouring.

Place the pan in a steamer and steam until hot.

Pour in the uncoloured mixture (54g) and steam for about 4 mins.  

Repeat another layer with the uncoloured mixture and steam for about 4 mins

Steam the first 3 layers for 4 minutes each

And 4th to 6th layers for 5 minutes each

Subsequent 7th and 8th layers for about 6 minutes each and the final layer (red) for 10 minutes.

Leave the cake to cool at room temperature before cutting.

I'm submitting this post to the Best Recipes for Everyone May 2015 Event (Theme: My Favourite Desserts) organized by Fion of XuanHom'sMom and co-hosted by Aunty Young. 

Happy Monday!