Sunday, March 30, 2014

Purple Sweet Potato Angku Kuih/Steamed Purple Glutinous Rice Cake



It has been a long while since I last made this kuih/cake. I’ve been having huge craving for the past few weeks and finally made some. I freeze some of it up in case of future craving. The name “angku kuih” or in English translates as “red tortoise cake” is a type of traditional glutinous rice cake with mung bean fillings that’s made into an oval shaped like the back of a tortoise. This kuih/cake is usually used for prayers, during birthdays or baby full moon because it’s symbol of longevity. Normally made with red coloring but I decided to make it with natural color of purple using purple sweet potatoes. The recipe I am using here is the same one that I used before. You can check out some of the step by step pictures here .

Ingredients for the dough:

300g sweet potatoes - cut into chunks
180 g glutinous rice flour
2tbsp rice flour
2tbsp sugar
3tbsp vegetable oil
some water (to bind the dough together but if your sweet potatoes are soft you might not need it)

1. Steam sweet potatoes till soft, takes about 20 minutes.
2. Use a potato masher or a fork, mashed the cooked sweet potatoes, add in glutinous rice flour, rice flour, sugar, and oil, slowly add in water bit by bit to form a soft dough, cover and set it aside and rest for 30mins.
3. Shape into 30g small ball (depend on the size of your mold)


Ingredients for Mung Bean filling:

250g mung beans/green beans – wash and soak overnight in cold water
130g sugar
3tbsp vegetable oil

1. Drain dries the mung beans, place the beans on a steaming tray and steam over medium heat until soft. It should take about half an hour.
2. While beans still hot, place beans, sugar and oil in a food processor, process till fine and become a paste.
3. Shape into 10-12g balls (depend on the size of your mold) and set it aside.

To shape the Angku Kuih

Some banana leaves – cut into round shape
A bit of oil for brushing


1. Grease the angku kuih mould by brushing on some vegetable oil.
2. Flatten the sweet potato ball, place a mung bean ball to the center and shape it into a round ball.
3. Place the ball in the mould, press evenly, and then knock to release the dough and place on greased banana leaf.
4. Arrange on a steaming tray and steam for 10 mins over medium high flame. Take it out from the steamer and brush it lightly with some oil

Note: Just one important thing to take note is that making the dough. As each sweet potato has a different level of moisture, you may not need to use all the water required here. Just pour in little by little until we get soft pliable dough.

7 comments:

Joceline Lor said...

Very nice akk. I like this kuih very much!

Elin Chia said...

Nice color leh :) and your skin ooops I mean the angku skin so thin..mmmm it must be yummy with so much fillings. Wait la I want to try my hands on making angku one of these days :)I like angku very much, I buy them often but looking at yours, I wanna make them too ! This is how inspiring you can be :p

prethika said...

Kuih looks fabulous purple color adds attraction ...Bookmark recipe

cikmanggis said...

I tak pernah jemu makan kuih ini Gert.My fvrt kuih.Bila nampak je kuih ni terus terliur ..yum..yum.Besok nk cari keledek ungu kt pasar...drooling !!

ICook4Fun said...

Joseline, thank you.

Elin, thank you. Ya I like mine with lots of filling ha ha.. like my friend always said 'Skim Cepat Kaya' as I don't skim on ingredients ha ha..

Prethika, thank you. Hope you make it soon.

Cik Nah, me either. I selalu buat and freeze it. Nak makan pun senang. Either steam it again or pan fried it.

Shereen said...

Yes, yours definately skim cepat kaya.. Lol!!

Hooi Peng said...

where u get the mould