Nyonya Kueh Ku with Natural Pandan Flavouring and Colouring

Ang Ku Kueh, literally translated as “Red Tortoise Cake”, is traditionally red in colour as the name suggests, but food colouring additives are sometimes questionable. So I’ve decided to use natural colour from the pandan leaves instead.

The dough is mainly made up of glutinous rice flour and sweet potato but there is another version without the sweet potato and its texture is more soft and sticky. I personally prefer the former. The fillings are usually made from mung beans, grounded peanuts and yam paste but you can also get it with red bean paste, shredded coconut with gula melaka and the list goes on. This recipe shows you how to make pandan leaves flavoured dough with grounded peanut, yam and mung bean fillings.

This recipe is adapted from “Guai Shu Shu” for his peanut and yam fillings recipes and “Kitchen Tigress” for her dough and mung beans recipes.

To make this delicious kueh, click on the video tutorial and print out the recipe below.

Thank you

Please click Image and YouTube Link below to view Video Tutorial:

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/F9bV55N5zPw

Nyonya Kueh Ku with Natural Pandan Flavour and Colour
Course: Snack
Author: Shiokman Eddie
Ingredients
Dough
  • 300 g glutinous rice flour
  • 250 ml water
  • 40 g pandan leaves
  • 150 g coconut milk
  • 5 tsp rice flour
  • 4 tsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp cooking oil
  • 220 g sweet potato
Peanut Filling
  • 300 g grounded peanuts
  • 150 g sugar
  • 25 g roasted sesame seeds
  • 2 tbsp plain flour
  • 50 g water
  • 10 g cooking oil
Yam Filling
  • 500 g yam
  • 130 g sugar
  • 50 g cooking oil
Mung Bean Filling
  • 300 g mung beans
  • 200 g sugar
  • 400 ml water for cooking mung beans
  • 100 ml cooking oil
Instructions
Dough
  1. Mix flour and water well until it all comes together
  2. Cover and keep in the fridge overnight
  3. Add pandan leaves and coconut milk in blender and blend until pandan leaves are very fine
  4. Sieve and press out 120 g pandan coconut milk
  5. Pour pandan coconut milk, rice flour and sugar into a sauce pan
  6. Add oil and stir over low flame until it turns into a smooth paste and set it aside
  7. Cut sweet potato into small slices and steam until soft
  8. Mash sweet potato until fine
  9. Add pandan coconut paste and mix well
  10. Add glutinous rice flour paste that was kept overnight and mix evenly
  11. Knead mixture well into a dough and set it aside
Peanut Filling
  1. Add 2 tbsp plain flour and 50 g water to a bowl of grounded peanuts, sesame seeds and sugar
  2. Add 10 g cooking oil and mix evenly
  3. Put peanut mixture in a chopper and grind to however fine you like
Yam Filling
  1. Peel and cut yam into slices and steam until soften
  2. Mash steamed yam finely
  3. Add sugar and mix evenly
  4. Stir fry yam paste in oil until it comes together
  5. Set aside to cool down
Mung Bean Filling
  1. Soak mung beans in water for about an hour until they expand
  2. Drain out water and boil expanded mung beans in 400 ml water

  3. Cook over medium heat until water evaporates and mung beans soften
  4. Add sugar
  5. Mash until sugar dissolves and mix evenly
  6. Add oil and mix until combine
  7. Fry in a wok on high heat until it thickens
  8. Set aside to cool down
Final Stage
  1. Divide all fillings and dough into 20 g portions each
  2. Roll each filling and dough portion into shape of balls
  3. Dust some flour inside wooden mould
  4. Flatten dough and place filling in the centre
  5. Fold the sides up and seal dough
  6. Roll into a ball
  7. Press dough ball into the mould flat
  8. Knock the kueh out of the wooden mould onto a small piece of banana leaf
  9. Steam for 6 mins at medium heat
  10. Remove from steamer and brush with cooking oil lightly
Recipe Notes
  • The recipe for the dough is just enough for the recipe of mung beans or yam and peanut recipes combined.
  • So if you want enough dough for all the 3 fillings you need to double the recipe for the dough.
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