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I was dying to make huat kuih/fatt koh (steam rice cake) for sometimes. The reason is not because I love to eat huat kuih.It's because of the challenging skill and technique in order to make huat kuih to "SMILE" big. I heard from many people that to make this steam rice cake the real challenge is hard to make it "smile".Recently I have conversation with my mom,she told me she can't make her huat kuih to "smile" so she just bought the premixed flour to make huat kuih.My mom who know how to cook and bake food deliciously,dunno how to make huat kuih?? That was a news to me!! It's really amazed and urge me to make my own huat kueh!! I really want to test the difficultly level of this steam cake!! I love challenge!! yeah...that me!! But the problem is I don't have "wine yeast" or "ragi tapai" in Malay or it's called "chow peang" in Chinese and a proper steamer pot!! Anyway,I found a substitution for dry wine yeast .I can't find tapai ragi in US !! I understand Chinese restaurant in States use fermented sweet rice wine to make sauce like General Tso,Kung Pao or Chicken Broccoli.I used fermented sweet rice sauce/wine to replaced ragi tapai and my Fatt Koh/Huat Hueh really smiling to me!! Viola!! My first attempt making Huat Kueh was a success!! I'm adapted the recipe from Agnes Chang book..but only used half recipe instead of full recipe..
Ingredients:(A)
125 gm,cold cooked rice
4 tbsp fermented sweet rice wine
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp water
(B)
150 gm sugar,mixed with 2 cups (16 oz) water,boiled to dissolve sugar syrup,cooled
300 gm rice flour
(C)
1 tsp ENO
1 tsp double action baking powder
red and green food coloring
Method:
1:Combine (A) in a clean glass container and cover with clean cloth.Keep aside and leave to ferment for 48 hours/2 days.
2:Pour fermented ingredients (A) into a blender,add 1/2 amount of sugar syrup and blend until smooth.Mix in rice flour and the remaining 1/2 amount of sugar syrup into the mixture.
3:Strain into a clean container,cover with clean cloth and leave to ferment for another 8-9 hours.
4:Add (C) except coloring if you intend to make more than one color into a mixing bowl,add fermented rice flour mixture and stir well.Then use different bowl to mix each coloring before pour into mould for steaming.
5:Pour mixture into small cups and moulds until full.Steam at high heat for about 15-20 minutes until cooked.
6:Remove cups and leave it cool before serve.
I don't have proper steamer so I used spring foam plate over wok to steam this cake.
smiling orcracking Fatt Koh
I used silicone baking mould ,afraid the cake will deflated after took out from steamer but it's still staying "smiling" good!...testing,testing!! no bad eh?
I only fill batter to 2/3 level
This method might work but the kuih didn't really smiling big,maybe the spring foam pan don't have holes to let the hot steam circulate evenly.
I have a small steamer ,so each time I can only steam 4 huat kuih as you can see in the photo
I have almost 30 pieces of Huat Kuih/Fatt Koh sitting on my kitchen counter,anyone?
this is the fermented sweet rice wine/sauce I used .You can find this rice wine in any Asian store in US.
rice in the wine*****************************************************
Note:
The container and cloth used for fermenting must be clean to prevent the mixture from turning sour and mouldy.I used glass jar.
Pour mixture into cups until very full and do not place them too close during steaming ,so the fatt koh will crack into a flower shape.
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