1:12 Nonya Kueh Kueh

From Left to Right-
Top Row: Kaya (egg jam) Kueh, Tapioca Kueh, 9-Layer Kueh, Kueh Dah Dah, Pulut Inti (rice with coconut topping)
Bottom Row: Various Ang Ku Kueh, Hoon Kueh with Banana, Hoon Kueh with Corn, Kueh Lapis
Made with ADC, mostly Grace, Sukerukun, Daiso clay, Oil Paints


these little traditional nonya kueh kueh are commonly seen in Singapore, and are usually eaten as snacks or for breakfast. i'm not a fan of these desserts, good thing too, as they are mostly made with coconut, coconut milk, glutinous rice/rice flour etc. the ang ku kueh are also part of certain festivities such as birthdays (the chinese character on the kueh itself means "longevity") and weddings, a variation in shape is used for babies' 1st month celebrations (a big deal here for the chinese).

rather than eat these, i'd prefer to make them in mini cos they're rather colourful and almost immediately identifiable (for those who live in SG/Malaysia i guess? heh). but if i had to choose, my favourite would be the kaya kueh, either from Bengawan Solo, or this recipe which i found aeons ago online, then modified to suit my tastes. i'm sorry i don't recall who the original author is, actually now i'm not sure if i even found it online, maybe it was in one of my mom's old cookbooks :-/ anyhow, here it is, if you would like to try it out! pretty foolproof! might be a tad soft though, so do wait for it to cool first before cutting.
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Pulot Serikaya/Kaya Kueh

i've substituted the green colouring in favour of pandan leaves. the leaves provide a wonderful fragrance.

clean the leaves of 1 whole pandan plant, cut into small pieces and pound till fine (or use a blender). using your hand, squeeze the ground leaves and catch the juice through a sieve. should yield about 1 teaspoon of green colouring.


Ingredients
1 cup glutinous rice - soaked for 4 hours
250g grated coconut - squeeze for 150 ml 1st milk - squeeze for 150 ml 2nd milk
½ tsp salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp flour
75g sugar
a few drops of green colouring/pandan leaves (see instructions above)
½ tsp vanilla essence

Method
1. Mix the glutinous rice with the 2nd coconut milk and ¼ tsp salt and put into a greased loaf tin. Steam for 15 minutes. Compact the rice by pressing with a wooden spoon and continue steaming for another 10 minutes.
2. To prepare the serikaya, put the flour into a bowl, add the eggs, stir in the 1st coconut milk, stirring slowly. Then add the remaining salt, sugar, vanilla essence and colouring. Mix well.
3. Slowly pour the serikaya mixture over the glutinous rice and steam for another 15 minutes or till the mixture sets. Remove from heat and let the cake cool before cutting.

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as with each time i 'experiment', i.e. making an item for the first time, and trying to figure out the best way to make it with no tutorials/instructions...i have PLENTY of failures. this time was no different, and boy did i fail...ALOT.

let's start with the one that gave me the most headache. the 9-layer kueh. as a kid this was a really fun kueh to eat as it was fun to play with :P the 9 layers could be separated from each other, so peeling it off layer by layer made the experience more enjoyable than chomping it down and ruining the structure (??) ((i know i'm weird)) (((but i'm sure i'm not the only one who did this, my bro and i would compete to see who could peel the last 2 layers whole as that was the toughest bit to manage hehehe)))

this was my 2nd last attempt. i finally got the thickness and colours -almost- right (to my liking, traditionally the colours are a tad different). but the texture aiee...turned out more like cake! so i had to re-do it. they won't go to waste, i'll cut them down into candies. ah well.

 i believe the latest attempt was the 8th or 9th time...:( even so, i'm not satisfied with the colours, but it'll do as i have no more time to muck around for it to dry in time for the talk on sat.

i'm terrible with mixing greens, so i tried, and tried, and tried....with ADC especially with grace/sukerukun, the colours aren't so easy to predict, especially since i have less experience playing with ADC. moreover, the textures depend on the amount of Daiso clay in it, and if i get impatient i mess up the slicings. looking at this mess makes me even sadder, kinda hard to convert this into anything else, maybe green marsmallow squares? T-T but halloween is overrrrr waaahhhhH~!

so few successes :(

finally got it somewhat right. the green is a tad lighter than the neighbourhood ones, but looks almost like the real kueh i made with pandan leaves for colouring. the orange was easier to get right, managed to make it in just one try, what with failing that many times on the green XD

even the kueh dah dah needed practice. the 3 on the left were too thick, too big, not green enough etc....the 4 on the right i'm more satisfied with, they're approx 0.8cm long.....

 i was afraid that the kueh lapis wouldn't turn out right, and honestly, i can't even see the darn lines with my near-naked eye (i wear glasses lol) so i'm surprised that it turned out well under macro mode. YAY!

and the hoon kueh too. again, not very visible without the help of macro photography. but eh, i'm glad it turned out reasonably well ::)

there you have it! taking this along to the lib talk :) along with a magnifying glass, i hope the 4x magnification is sufficient XD

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on another note, i can finally reveal what i was so happy about in this post!!!!

my cousin, Denise, entered her design for Women's Weekly's contest in collaboration with Kiehl's....and this is the result!! she WON! YAY!!!! this is a sturdy eco-friendly shopping/marketing bag (?) and iirc comes free with a minimum purchase at Kiehl's. Denise received 2 of these (that's why i got one YAY :P ) and 2 boxes of Kiehl's products, woooahhhh they look luxurious!  i love her design too, some of the details were compromised for use, but i think the end result looks great!

http://mimieyesstudio.blogspot.com/

i keep bugging her to post about the prizes, but i think she's too busy, and more modest/humble than i am about the win :P so i'm tooting her horn for her HAHAHAH~!

CONGRATULATIONS DENISE!!!!