Welcome P3 – P6 International Students of BHPS! Exploring Kueh’s Culture in Singapore… Meanwhile, hop on to:

Kuehs are bite-sized snack / dessert. Found commonly in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Southern China provinces like Fujian and also Netherlands! Why Netherlands!? Through its colonial link to Indonesia. Chinese Kuehs are mainly made from rice or glutinous flour. Ingredients of Malay Kuehs mainly consists of tapioca and coconut.

Kuehs are usually made from steaming rather than baking. Most Kuehs are sweet, however there are also savoury ones! In Indonesia and Malaysia, Kuehs are widely used for desserts. In Singapore, the origin of Kuehs is hard to distinguish whether it is Peranakan or Malay due to the cross –cultural influencing in the early days of Singapore.

The Making of Ondeh-Ondeh

Ondeh-Ondeh Ondeh-ondeh are beautifully green coloured balls made with a combination of glutinous rice flour and tapioca flour. They are coated with fresh grated coconut. They are like little sweet bombs. As you bite onto the ondeh-ondeh, the gula melaka will burst in your mouth!

Kueh Kosui Kueh Kosui is a type of nonya cakes steamed in small Chinese tea cups. It is usually served with freshly grated coconuts. It is supposed to have a springy texture and the kueh is sweetened by the aromatic coconut sugar.

Getuk Ubi Getuk Ubi is made with steamed or boiled tapioca, orange sugar, salt and grated coconut. It is best to serve it while it is hot.

Binka Ubi Binka Ubi is also known as Cassava Cake and it is a traditional malay kueh. Its main ingredient is grated tapioca and no flour is needed to make Binka Ubi.

Talam Hijau Talam Hijau is mainly made of pandan leaves extract, coconut and gula melaka. It is very sweet and has a soft texture.

Pulut Inti Pulut Inti is made with glutinous rice and grated coconut infused with gula melaka. The bunga telang petals are used to colour the glutinous rice, giving it a rich blue colour. Bunga Telang

Lemper Udang Lemper Udang is a savoury kueh and it is also known as spicy dried shrimps glutinous rice rolls. They are usually wrapped with banana leaves. The dried shrimps are grind with chillies, onion, garlic, lemongrass and other spices. The shrimp paste is then put to fry.

Lapis Sagu / 九层糕 (Jiu Ceng Gao) Lapis Sagu or 九层糕 is a type of steamed multi-coloured Nyonya kueh that’s known as 9-layers cake. It is made of glutinous rice flour, coconut and sugar. Since young, we love to peel them off layer by layer and eat it!

Ang Ku Kueh (Red tortoise Kueh) Ang Ku Kueh is also known as red tortoise. It has a soft sticky glutinous rice flour skin wrapped around a sweet filling in the centre. The fillings are usually made of sweet yellow bean paste or sugar grated peanut. The Chinese believed that eating tortoises would bring longevity, good fortune and properity to those who eat it.

Soon Kueh Soon Kueh is a semi-circle shaped dumpling which is similar to curry puff. Its ingredients consist of bamboo shoots, carrot, black mushroom and shrimps. Rice flour is use to make the skin of the soon kueh. A good soon kueh is one where the skin is slightly translucent and you are able to see the fillings inside.

Let’s Feast…