Red Tortoise cake (Ang Ku Kueh)

This red tortoise cake is something that I think everyone has heard of and has probably used in worship. The Hokkien dialect "Ang Ku Kueh" is where the name "red tortoise cake" or "Hong Gui Kueh" originates. The primary component is glutinous rice, which is coloured and wrapped with your preferred cooked fillings. Usually, either mung beans or peanuts are used as the filler. Banana leaves are always used to line the bottom.

In the old days, folks would typically grind glutinous rice pulp in a stone mill. But now is very convenient to use store-bought glutinous rice flour to prepare it.  It is much easier, just pour boiling water into the flour.

I am sharing three flavours of Ang Ku Kueh, which are pumpkin, sweet potatoes and pandan flavour. To make the cake's skin, I combined glutinous rice flour with mashed purple sweet potatoes and pumpkin respectively. In other words, rather than being red, the natural colour of my Ang Ku Kueh is purple and yellow. The traditional dessert has been altered and boosted with custard filling due to the changes in younger people's tastes for the filling. The custard filling recipe below yields about 800g which can roll for 30 little balls. For the method of making custard filling, please refer Sweet Potato Mochi Tangyuan 

For the pumpkin and sweet potato dough. I've tried two different ways to make the skin. For the first attempt, I poured boiling water into the glutinous flour to make the dough, but the “Kueh” skin tasted too soft to me after steaming. I prepared a “starter” paste or water roux with rice flour for the second approach and evenly mixed it with the glutinous flour.  For the pandan flavour dough, since it does not contain any puree, so  I omit the "starter"

“Starter “paste or water roux is a cooked mix of rice flour and water. It makes the dough easy to handle and the cake skin will be chewier to eat and won't stiffen overnight. The texture of the kueh is still chewy but not hard to eat the next day when the skin is made by mixing mashed sweet potato, pumpkin, or potato with glutinous flour.  If you only use glutinous rice flour in its entirety, the cake will somewhat crumble after steaming.

Instead of using a mould, I'm making this ang ku kueh using a foam fruit wrapper. Place the dough on the foam fruit wrapper, roll it up, gently squeeze and twist it into a shell shape of Ang Ku Kueh. 

A piece of oiled banana leaf normally need to line the bottom of the kueh before steaming. Or you may line it on top of a piece of parchment paper. Do remember to brush in oil in a container for storing. And brush in oil on a plate before serving.

Let us get all the ingredients to hand and detailed instructions to get started.

INGREDIENTS

 

CUSTARD FILLING

120g custard powder

80g milk powder

90g sugar

200ml coconut milk

160ml milk

2 eggs (beaten)

50ml cooking oil

(Divided into 30 portions and form 30 little balls)

 

STARTER PASTE

10g rice flour

100ml warm water

2 tbsp oil

 

PUMPKIN SKIN

200g pumpkin puree

200g glutinous rice flour

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cooking oil

Half of the starter

 

PURPLE SWEET POTATO SKIN

230g mashed purple sweet potatoes

230g glutinous rice flour

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cooking oil

Half of the starter

PANDAN FLAVOUR SKIN

250g glurinous rice flour

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cooking oil

240ml pandan juice (5 pandan leaves blended with 240ml of water)

 

 

METHOD

1. Combine the starter paste material in a saucepan and stir well. Make sure that there are no lumps.  Cook it at low heat stirring continuously until the roux thickens.

2. For the pumpkin skin - Pour in 1 tbsp of sugar into the glutinous rice flour and stir well. Add in half of the starter from step (1) and mix until incorporated. Then add the pumpkin puree and the cooking oil, stir, and knead until you get a smooth dough. If the dough is too wet to handle, add 1 tablespoon of glutinous flour, one at a time, until you get a perfect dough. Divide it into 18 potions and form into little balls.

3. For the purple sweet potato skin – follow the same method as making the pumpkin dough. If the dough is too dry to handle, add 1 tablespoon of water, one at a time until you get a smooth dough. Divide it into 12 potions and form into little balls.

4. For the pandan flavour skin - Combine the glutinous rice flour, sugar, cooking oil, and pandan juice. Mix it well until you get a smooth dough. If the dough is dry, add 1 tablespoon of water (or pandan juice if you have made extra), until you get a smooth dough. Divide it into 12 potions and form into a little balls.

4. Flatten the dough (pumpkin, sweet potato or pandan) and wrap in the fillings. Knead and roll into oval shape and place the dough on the foam fruit wrapper, gently squeeze and twist into a shell shape. Use a piece of oiled banana leaf to line the bottom of the kueh. Steam on medium and low heat for 10 to 12 minutes.