← Nouns Cooking · Malaysian & Singaporean

Ingredients

• 250 g fine rice flour (not glutinous)
• ½ tsp Salt
• 130 ml Water, more or less
• 2 pandan leaves, for steaming
• 120 g gula melaka (palm sugar), finely chopped or grated
• 120 g freshly grated coconut (or desiccated, moistened)
• salt, for the coconut, a pinch
• 1 banana leaf, cut into 8 cm squares (optional)

Method

1. Spread the rice flour on a tray lined with cloth and steam it over high heat for 15 min with a cloth wrapped around the lid to stop drips. Cool, then rub it through a sieve.
2. Dissolve the salt in the water. Sprinkle it over the flour a little at a time, rubbing with your fingertips, until it feels like damp sand that just holds when squeezed. Sieve again for a fluffy texture.
3. Steam the coconut with a pinch of salt and a knotted pandan leaf for 5 min, so it keeps fresh.
4. Lightly grease small moulds or ramekins (about 7 cm). Spoon in flour to half-fill without pressing, add a teaspoon of palm sugar, then fill to the top with more flour and level loosely.
5. Turn each cake out onto a banana leaf square (or steam in the mould) and steam over boiling water for 6–8 min, in batches, until the flour turns translucent at the edges and the sugar melts.
6. Serve warm, topped with the steamed coconut.

Tips

• The key is the flour texture: too dry and the cakes crack, too wet and they turn dense. Keep adding water by the spoonful.
• Kueh tutu moulds make the classic shape, but small cups or a cupcake tray work fine.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Seasaltwithfood What To Cook Today