Muah Chee (Glutinous Rice Flour coated with Grated Peanut)

I'm always keen to try new things and as a result of that, often have impulse buys (especially for hard to find items) when doing grocery shopping, my pantry is often bursting at the seams. On top of that, I'm often guilty of throwing out items that have expired and have yet to come around using it. :( 

So now I will only buy things that I will use immediately. As for existing pantry items, I'm finding recipes that use those ingredients. Muah Chee was one of it; because I have tapioca flour and glutinous rice flour! It is a also a very simple item you can make in 15min. So here's my sharing:

Muah Chee

Ingredients:

Muah Chee adapted from Rasa Malaysia

- 250 gm Glutinous Rice flour
- 2 tbsp Tapioca flour
- 375 ml water
- cooking oil for greasing the tin1

Peanut Coating adapted from Happy Home Baking

- 150 gm peanut powder
- 40 gm caster sugar
- 20 gm toasted white sesame seeds (optional)2

The flours tend to settle at the bottom, remember to give it a good stir before pouring
into the tin.

Before steaming

After steaming

Don't use a bowl! Use a tray!

Method:

1. Set up steamer and grease the tin with cooking oil.

2. Sieve glutinous rice flour and tapioca flour together.

3. Add water to flour mixture to form a watery batter. Mix evenly. 

4. Pour into greased tin and steam at high heat for 15 minutes or until centre is cooked.

5. To prepare the coating, mix all the coating ingredients together in a tray.

6. Cut a portion of the cooked Muah Chee and put into the tray with peanut coating. Use a pair of kitchen scissors and cut into bite size pieces and as you cut roll the pieces in the coating to prevent them from sticking together again. A wide tray will help in this case instead of a bowl. Serve immediately.

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Notes:

1. I use a 7 inch square tin.

2. The sesame seeds are optional. I have tried both with and without, both taste equally yummy. Do take note that sesame seeds do give it a different fragrance which some might not like it if they are not used to having it in their Muah Chee.

Chwee Kueh

I can't remember what was the reason that prompted me to try making my own chwee kueh but I am certainly glad I did. Chwee Kueh has always been one of my favourite savoury snacks and it is not hard to find it in food paradise Singapore but it is hard to find one with the Chai Por topping that suits my palate; I like my Chai Por to be on the sweeter side but those I found outside often tastes just plain salty. I have made Chwee Kueh a few times and especially loving the Chai Por. So here are the Chwee Kueh + Chai Por recipes I have tried:

Chwee Kuehs I made quite some time ago

I was told Chwee Kueh should have this distinctive "crater".

But sometimes mine end up with no "craters"! LOL. I think I might have stumbled
onto the cause. Let me do a few more rounds to confirm my findings.

Ingredients:

Chai Por topping
recipe adapted from book Singapore Hawker Food
- 450 gm Chai Por, chopped
- 60 gm garlic, minced
- 18-20 tbsp cooking oil
- 4-5 tbsp caster sugar

Kueh (about 30 pieces)
recipe adapted from www.cakes-kueh.com

A: 
- 460 ml water
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp cooking oil

B:
- 200 gm rice flour
- 40 gm tapioca flour
- 460 ml water

Method:

1. Rinse Chai Por a few times and soak for about 30 minutes to remove excessive salt. Strain and discard water.

2. Heat cooking oil (I used rice bran oil) in pot and put in the strained Chai Por and simmer on low heat for 40 minutes. Stir now and then to avoid burning.

3. Add minced garlic and simmer till fragrant.

4. Add sugar and stir well. Adjust sugar amount according to preference. Remove from heat and set aside.

5. Prepare steamer and moulds1.

6. Boil all A ingredients: 460ml of water, salt and cooking oil. Set aside.

7. Prepare B ingredients: Sieve the 2 flours and add remaining 460ml water to it. Stir well.

8. Add A to B while whisking B.

9. Pour into prepared moulds and steam at high heat for about 20 minutes.

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Notes:

1. You can choose to grease the moulds or leave them ungreased. I think I have tried both ways and there was not much of a difference. I will leave them ungreased.

茶叶蛋 Tea Leaf Eggs (Half boiled )

During one of the Chinese New Year I was planning to bake a kueh lapis cake but my oven decided to go on strike so I had to ditch the plan. But not before I already bought 5 boxes of eggs! Stuck with so many eggs, I decided to cook tea leaf eggs (茶叶蛋) since this is one fast route to get rid of one box of eggs at a shot. However I was not satisfied with the regular tea leaf eggs. And my last round with this dish wasn't that fantastic either when I followed the recipe that came along with the tea leaf egg herbs sold by Eu Yan Sang. So I decided to tweak it a bit: I will cook it without the shells (so that the marinade really gets into the eggs) and I want wobbly yolks (like those in Ramen!). So here is what I did:

Ingredients:

- 10 eggs (60gm sized)

Marinade:

- 1 sachet of Eu Yan Sang tea leaf eggs herbs
- 500ml water
- 1 tbsp dark soya sauce1

- 1 tbsp light soya sauce1

- 50-60 gm rock sugar1

Method:

1. Bring the herbs and water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the remaining seasoning and taste to adjust seasoning1 if necessary. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely.

2. Put the eggs in a pot of room temperature water deep enough to cover the eggs completely. Bring it to a boil. Stir the eggs gently while waiting for the water to come to a boil.

3. When the water comes to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and continue to simmer the eggs for 4.5 minutes2.

4. Remove the eggs from heat immediately and rinse under running tap water till they feel just barely warm to touch. Leave it aside to cool completely in a bowl of water. Peel the eggs when cooled.

5. Soak the peeled eggs in the cooled marinade sauce overnight in the fridge. Make sure the eggs are put into a small based glass container so that they get fully covered by the marinade.

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Notes:

1. The seasoning amounts are pretty much up to own preference. Above stated amounts are suited to my palate and it is not too salty. If u prefer a saltier version, you can add a pinch of salt or more light soy sauce.

2. Most recipes making eggs with runny yolks require an ice bath for the eggs once they are removed from the heat but I didn't keep ready made ice cubes in my freezer, so lazy me rinsed the eggs under running tap water till they were just warm to touch and I soaked it in a bowl of room temperature water for complete cooling. For this entry I simmered the eggs for 4.5 minutes but the yolks were not runny enough for me, so I will advise 3 or 3.5 minutes (tried 4 minutes before too and still way too cooked for me) of simmering. If you are using an ice bath, u might want to simmer for 4.5 minutes since that will cool down the eggs (hence stop further cooking) faster than my lazy method.