Choo Kar Man
0111524@kdu-online.com
Have you guys ever watched “ Little Nyonya”?
It is a Singapore drama series with the culture of Nyonya as its background. After I completed watching the series, I started to take interest in Nyonya
cuisine and began trying out all the dishes. Hence, Nyonya kueh had become one of my
favourite food today among the Nyonya cuisine. Have you ever wonder how Nyonya cuisine
came by? Baba Nyonya group is the result of the intermarriage of Chinese people from China with the native people of the region settling in Peninsula Malaysia, mainly situated
around Malacca in the early 17th century. Therefore, the descendants of these settlement sparked a whole new culture
which is the peranakan, also known as the Nyonya.
Same as every culture, food plays a very important role in it. The
Nyonya cuisine is influenced by the local Malay cuisines and spices and at the same time incorporates both Malay and Chinese recipes to create an array of
delightful dishes and desserts. So now I bet you know how Nyonya cuisine would
be. But how about Nyonya Kueh? Nyonya kueh is made from multifarious type of
flavourful ingredients such as sweet potatoes, tapioca, palm sugar, coconut
milk and pandan leaves. Coconut milk and pandan leaves are considered the main
ingredients when it comes to Nyonya kueh as most of the Nyonya kueh will be
using both of it. With all the ingredients presented together, the outcome of the Nyonya kueh will be a delightful one when placed on a platter, and can be served during tea time as a sweet dessert or as a part of the menu at festive
occasions.
When a Nyonya is
cooking
During the old days, the Peranakan girls, also known as Nyonya were trained to sharpen their skills in the culinary art, because they believe that this will
lead to a better marriage. So, after the short introduction of the Nyonya
culture today, I would like to introduce to you one of my favourite Nyonya kueh,
which is the kueh Bingka Ubi Kayu(cassava). Traditionally, the top of the kueh would normally become dark brown and a little bit crusty. This is because in the past, there was no electricity and they have to use charcoal to bake the kueh. In the present day, you can still get the same crusty effect
if you bake it in a fan forced oven. The kueh will be light yellow in colour and has a
sweet hint due to the coconut milk used. You can even bite into the grated coconut. I
would suggest that you use the wooden coconut grater to grate the coconut in
the recipe that I am going to share with you all later. “Ahh! That is so
troublesome”. I know that this will pop up in your mind immediately
but there is no doubt that fresh grated coconut will taste better than the frozen one. Anyhow, the choice is up to you and can still use the frozen one as stated in the
recipe.
After the brief introduction of the Nyonya culture and also my favourite kueh
Bingka Ubi Kayu, here is the easy recipe for your all. I hope that everyone will have a try at it and have fun!
Kueh Bingka Ubi Kayu
Ingredients:
1kg of finely grated cassava (tapioca)
4 cups of sugar
1 tin of coconut milk and add water to make 1
litre in total
3 heap of tablespoons plain flour
250g of freshly grated coconut
Method:
Mix the grated cassava, grated coconut and
flour in a large mixing bowl.
Heat up the coconut milk together with sugar.
When the sugar starts to melt, add this mixture into the combined cassava mix.
Use a balloon whisk to stir thoroughly.
Lastly pour into a 8”X 8”X 3” tin,
either lined with grease proof paper (baking paper) or banana leaves.
Bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 2
hours.
Bee Yinn Low.(2010). Kuih Bengka (Tapioca/Cassava Cake). Retrieved
6 November 2015 from http://rasamalaysia.com/kuih-bengka-tapiocacassava-cake/2/
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