Kueh Tutu aka 嘟嘟糕

Kueh Tutu (嘟嘟糕) is a traditional Singaporean delicacy which is made using roasted rice flour and fillings such as grated coconut or peanut powder. Nowadays it is not easy to find some authentic ones which taste as good as it used to be.

Recently I have posted a Kueh Tutu photo on facebook (HERE) which draws over "300+ likes" from readers and some even suggested a few places where we can still find some yummy Kueh Tutu.

KUEH TUTU
嘟嘟糕

3rd Trial of my Kueh Tutu with Coconut Filling

My love for Kueh Tutu starts when I was in primary school as I remembered vividly that my father used to get them for me at least twice a week from one of the shop near our area. And I always love those with coconut filling compared to the rest.

So when readers ask about Kueh Tutu recipe, I thought perhaps I could try to Google. With lucky, I managed to find some posts online using a similar recipe they adapted from the Food And Travel Magazine (Singapore version). You can read more about Kueh Tutu and where to get it's mould HERE.

Recipe adapted from Food And Travel Magazine, August 2010 issue.

(Make: 12 |          Preparation: 15 minutes |         Cooking: 8 minutes per batch)

Ingredients:
1 Kueh Tutu Mould
2 Cups Rice Flour
3/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Caster Sugar
170ml Hot Water
Pandan Leaves, cut into squares

Coconut Filling:
1/2 Cup Fresh Grated and Skinless Coconut
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar/Gula Melaka

Steps On Coconut Filling:-

1. Prepare the coconut filling. Heat a pan over medium heat and melt the brown sugar together with some pandan leaves.

2. Stir in the grated coconut and cook until the mixture is well coated with the melted sugar and fairly dry. Set aside.

(You can use either frying pan or microwave method to roast the rice flour)

Steps On Cooked Rice Flour:-

3. Next dry roast rice flour in a non-stick pan with some pandan leaves for 2 minutes on medium heat or alternatively you can microwave it on medium high heat (1 minute) with some pandan leaves.

4. When done, remove it from heat and leave it to cool.

5. Mix salt and sugar in the hot water and sprinkle over the roasted rice flour.

6. Using a fork combine the liquid and flour until the mixture is cool enough to touch. this this an important step, the flour mixture should not be too dry nor too wet or else it would affect the end result when shaping the kueh tutu as well as its texture)

7. Sieve the grainy mixture to get a fine and sandy texture. (the texture resemble grated coconut with that bit of moisture)

Steps On Shaping the Kueh Tutu:-

8. Fill half the kueh tutu mould with prepared flour, top with 1 teaspoon of the coconut filling and cover with more flour.

9. Place a small piece of pandan leaf over it and press with a square muslin cloth.

10. Turn it over (lightly give it a knock) on the steamer rack with the muslin cloth below.

11. Repeat the above steps until the remaining flour and coconut filling(or peanut filling) have been used up.

12. Steamed the kueh tutu for about 7 minutes on medium heat. Remove from the steamer and serve immediately.

2nd Trial of my Kueh Tutu. Photo taken using iPhone

Although making Kueh Tutu at home is not an easy task and some of you might not be able to get hold of the mould because of the country that you are in. But as long as you could get hold of the rice flour(any brand), pandan leave(can be omit), grated coconut/peanut you could apply this recipe by using similar size plastic or aluminum foil cases to act as the mould.

Just for your information, a reader(Janetan) wrote me a note to me that she found a useful tips online:-

"to let the kueh stay soft, the secret is roast the rice flour then steamed using steam bath and cover with a wet cloth".

Perhaps you would like to consider this point when preparing the rice flour which is the key success of the Kueh Tutu.

Don't worry if you don't get the texture right on the 1st trial, always starts with 1 cup of the flour to test out the recipe if you prefer. Happy trying and I hope to hear from your feedback too.

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{Food Art} Froggy Breakfast Set

Recently I got a box of LunchPunch sandwich cutters which comes in a set of 4 different patterns. There are 5 different themed of LunchPunch cutter whereas mine is the "Sand*wishes*" themed which consists of cute "fairy princess" with a cut out star and "frog prince" with the removable crown and etc.

SAND*WISHES* CUTTERS

(product from LunchPunch)

Since it is during mid-year school holidays, where I do not need to rush madly to prepare our daily breakfast,  I can spare some extra "5 - 10 minutes" doing out some "cute" breakfast like the above. And at the same time I can do it together with my kid to create parent bonding time where he can helps me to cut out some of the shapes and arranged the food on the plate.

(Serves: 1 |        Preparation: 5 - 7 minutes |         Cooking: 5 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 Slices of Plain Or Wholemeal Sandwich Bread
1 Slice of Breakfast Ham
1 Slice of Sandwich Cheese
1 Cherry Tomato, halved
1 Hash Brown or Some Potato Gems
Some Whole Walnuts, toasted
Some Salad Green, optional

Method:-

1. Either blanch the ham in hot water or lightly fry it on a pan for 10 seconds on each side. Remove and set aside.

2. Using your desire LunchPunch cutter (i choose the frog prince), punch out the "frog" shaped on each slice of bread as shown above.

3. Next adjust the crown of the "frog prince" cutter to fix the sandwich cheese and cut out a "crown" and "legs" to fix it on 1 slice of the frog shaped bread.

4. Repeat the same process using the cutter to cut out "mouth" and "legs" from the ham using the help of a toothpick or food stick to outline the cut out. (refer to the step-by-step photo above)

5. Lastly assemble the sandwich and place all the leftover pieces of ham and cheese between the two slices of frog shaped bread.

6. Arrange the tomato halves and features of the frog and serve it on some salad green together with toasted walnuts, hash brown and a glass of milk/coffee/tea.

Sometime with just a little more effort everyone can turns simple ingredient into something appealing like cafe style breakfast set! Look the above Froggy Sandwich Set, isn't it adorable and close to cafe standard of their Kid's Breakfast Menu. I am sure you won't resists to order one of this, right?

For more kid's menu ideas, you can refer to my other posts HERE.

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Tom Yum Talay (Hot And Sour Seafood Soup)

Have being craving for Clear Tom Yum Soup ever since my cruise trip back from Phuket where we had an enjoyable authentic Thai dishes for lunch over at Surin Beach (will share more on my Phuket trip in upcoming post soon). Initially I bought a packet of tom yum "seasoning" from Phuket which I wanted to try but after seeking some advice from Amy (Mothering Corner), I decided to try out her recipe using fresh ingredients instead of instant tom yum paste or seasoning.

TOM YUM TALAY

(Hot And Sour Seafood Soup)

And since I cannot decided on using either Fish, Chicken or Prawn to make my tom yum, in the end I just added in everything and come out with this Tom Yum Talay which is also known as Hot And Sour Seafood Soup. From what I had read up, the key for making a bowl of delicious Tom Yum Soup lies on the use of "fresh" ingredients and "proportion" of the Thai fish sauce and lime juice used as it need to balance the taste of the soup so that it is neither too salty nor sour.

Recipe adapted and modify from Amy, Mothering Corner's Thai Tomyam HERE.

(Serves: 2 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 6 minutes)

Ingredients:
8 Medium Prawns, shelled
10 Slices of Mackerel Fish Fillet
10 Cubes of Chicken Fillet, 1.5" Cubes
1 Thumb-length Galangal, lightly pound
4 Kaffir Lime Leaves
5 Pieces Thai Chilli Padi, sliced
50ml Thai Green Lime Juice
50ml Thai Fish Sauce
1.2 Litre of Water
2 Stalks Lemongrass, cut into thick slices
1 Small Red Onion, cut into quarters
8 Straw Mushrooms, halves
1/4 Piece of Knorr Chicken Stock Cube, optional
1 Tomato(optional), cut into wedges

Method:-

1. Lightly marinate the fish and chicken with some cornflour, sesame oil, cooking wine and light soy sauce and set aside. Remove the shell of the prawns and de-veined.

2. Bring water to boil in a medium soup pot. Add in lemongrass, galangal, onion, stock cube (if using) and simmer for 1.5 minutes till fragrant.

3. Next add in kaffir lime leaves, chillies, thai fish sauce and lime juice and simmer for another minute before adding in the rest of the ingredients (except tomato, add in 30 seconds)  and boil for another 2 - 3 minutes until cooked.

4. Ladle into serving bowls and top with some coriander, served together with extra condiments (cut chillies, Thai fish sauce and lime juice) and adjust to taste according to individual preference.

Everyone of us loves this soup which is really appetizing with mixture of hot, spicy and sour taste together with light fragrant from the lemongrass and kaffi lime leaves as well as sweetness from the seafood. I bet you can have at least 2 bowls of rice to go with this or to cut down the carbo intake you can replace it with some "glass noodles" or "rice noodle" for lighter meal.

Lastly, I would like to thank Amy for sharing her delicious tomyam soup recipe and tips with us.

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Steamed Chicken With Ginseng (Jjim Dak - 찜닭) Using Happy Call Pan

Hi there, hope everyone has a great weekend. Sorry for the lack of post(s) these few weeks because; firstly I was away for vacation and secondly it is also the mid-year school holiday in Singapore so eventually I am spending more time with my kid rather than updating my blog.

Here to continue with my Korean Cooking Project, I would like to share with you another recipe similar to Ginseng Chicken Soup(Samgyetang) with a sightly different ingredients plus using "steaming method".

STEAMED CHICKEN WITH GINSENG
(Jjim Dak - 찜닭)

Jjim Dak(찜닭) or Dak Jjim which also known as "Korean Steamed Chicken" is something similar to our Chinese Steamed Herbal Chicken. But in this recipe the only herbs used are Dried Ginseng and Red Dates which after all bring up the flavorsome taste of the chicken which infused from the ginseng. This dish is prepared using Happy Call Pan(HCP) which acts as a pressure cooker to gently simmer the chicken till tender and as the same time trap the flavour of all the ingredients used. (don't worry if you don't have any HCP you can always used a normal steamer for this dish)

Recipe adapted from "the food of Korea" by Injoo Chun, Jaewoon Lee and etc

(Serves: 2-3         | Preparation: 10 minutes |           Cooking: 30 minutes)

Ingredients:
1/2 Portion of Chicken, about 600g
300ml of Water
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
2 - 3 Pieces of Dried Ginseng
8 Fresh Peeled Chestnuts
2 Medium Potato, cut into chunks
4 Big Red Dates
3 Cloves Garlic
2 Slices Ginger
3 Stalks Spring Onion, cut into sections

Method:-

1. Rinse dried ginseng with water before soaking it in a bowl of warm water for about 20 - 30 till it is slightly soften. Cut it into 2 - 3 sections.

2. Trim and rinse the chicken, pat dry with paper towels and rub 1/2 teaspoon of salt all over it and set aside.

3. Arrange some spring onion and ginseng on the HCP (around the middle area), place the prepared chicken(skin side facing upwards) on top and scatter the rest of the dry ingredients around the chicken, add water and salt.

4. Close and LOCK the HCP and simmer the chicken on low heat for about 30 - 40 minutes or till meat is tender when using chopsticks to poke through the thigh area.

5. During the cooking process you can open the HCP and check the water level every 10 - 15 minutes if you are worried about the sauce being evaporated. (for me I opened it twice on the 15 and 25 minutes, you can also add in a little more water if the sauce evaporates)

6. Serve chicken on the HCP or cut it into serving pieces.

So if you like the taste of ginseng and you are looking for some comfort food to nourish our body systems, perhaps you would like to try this 1 Pot Dish which consists of quiet a number of nutritious ingredients for your body. And moreover adding potato in this herbal chicken helps to give it a starchy gravy and it could also be served as a meal itself without having extra cooked rice too.

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