Chwee Kueh ( Steamed rice cakes with chopped radish )

Looks so innocently easy to do

I am on a chwee kueh trail. So far, I did three trails, 2 were huge failures but the last one got me to where I wanted to.

The earlier batches were total disasters. Anyone looking at it will be hard pressed to even remotely identify what I made. ( reasons : unsuitable utensils and high heat caused blisters on the cakes, overly salty radish topping ,  cake so mushy it could not hold its shape )

The ratio of the 3 kinds of flours   ( rice, corn, wheat starch ) is critical if you are picky with the texture of the rice cake.  These, I took great pains to experiment. It was a stroke of luck that  I ‘mistook’ my hand for a measuring spoon and scooped more wheat starch than planned. What an eureka moment because the rice cakes turned out perfect – soft to the bite but firm enough to handle !

I steamed the chwee kueh in the hollow of the cupcake baking tray , 4 inches above a pot of water that did not fit very well. Another eureka moment again because the medium heat gave the rice cakes a nice shiny finish !  

If there is anything to improve , it would be to soak the chopped radish more to reduce the salt. Even so, I polished off 5 of the cakes before remembering to serve them.

Makes 24 kuehs, cupcake size.

Credits : rumblingtummy

Ingredients ( batter ) :

75g rice flour

10g corn flour

10g wheat flour

360ml water

a pinch of salt

1 tsp canola oil

Ingredients ( radish topping ) :

1 cup chopped radish, soaked and rinsed 3 times until it is no longer salty. Drain.

2 cloves of garlic, minced and pressed.

3 tsp gula Melaka

2 tsp oil

Method ( rice cake ) :

Prepare a cupcake tray and a steamer with 1 cm of water. Oil the cupcake depressions.

In a pot, combine all the ingredients for the batter.

Cook over medium low heat under the batter is about to thicken, stirring constantly. The batter should NOT congeal or thicken but remain liquid.

Put the batter over the prepared tray.

Steam the batter over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, until the batter changes from white to translucent, covered.

Allow it to cool as it is, about 15 minutes.

Remove the steamer cover and cool further. Remove the rice cakes with a toothpick.

( Radish topping ) :

Fry the garlic in oil under it is soft but not brown.

Add the chopped radish and gula Melaka. Add a tsp of water if needed.

Fry until the gula is melted and caramelized.

Serve with the rice cake / chwee kueh.