Cafes & Wineries

After my recent investigation into Chi Kak Kuih, my hands were itching to make some P’ng Kuihs. However I decided not to use the red colour, but to do a green coloured version.
After thinking of what to use to get the colour since I could not get my hands on any of the herbs mentioned in my Chi Kak Kuih post, I decided upon spinach. Well, I thought Italians use it to colour their pasta, so why can’t I use it to colour my kuih too? I wasn’t sure how the colour will turn out, but looking at the end result, it was actually quite nicely coloured, don’t you think?

Makes approx. 12 kuihs.

[Ingredients]
Filling:
120g glutinous rice, soaked for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight
60g split mung beans (去皮綠豆片), rinsed then soaked for about 2 hours
30g dried prawns (蝦米), soaked then roughly chopped
30g preserved daikon (chai poh 菜脯), finely chopped
3 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked then cubed
1 tbsp fried shallot flakes (油蔥酥)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2½ teaspoons light soy sauce
¼ teaspoon sesame oil
¼ teaspoon sugar
dash of ground white pepper
125ml (½ cup) water

This is the tinned chopped spinach imported from France that I used.

Pastry:
200g glutinous rice flour (糯米粉)
100g rice flour (粘米粉)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
100g chopped spinach (canned or frozen), squeezed to remove any excess juice
excess juice squeezed from the spinach + water to make 200ml
2 tablespoons canola or corn oil
Banana leaves for steaming
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Filling:
1. Sauté chopped garlic in 2 tablespoons canola or corn oil. Then add dried prawns and preserved daikon. Stir-fry briefly until fragrant. Add mushrooms, glutinous rice, mung beans and shallot flakes. Season to taste with light soy, sesame oil, sugar and pepper.

2. Transfer the rice filling into a tray or cake tin. Sprinkle about 1/3 amount of the 125ml water over the filling. Steam over high heat for 10 minutes. Fluff up the rice with a fork, then sprinkle with the second 1/3 amount of water. Steam another 10 minutes. Fluff up the rice again and sprinkle the rest of the water over the rice and steam another 10 minutes, or until cooked. Set aside to cool.

3. Prepare a bowl of water. Dip your hands in to wet your hands, this is to prevent rice filling sticking to your hands while dividing the rice filling. Scoop 2 tablespoons (about 40-50g) of the filling, and with your wet hands press lightly together to form a ball. Set aside. Repeat with the rest of the filling, you should get just over 12 rice balls. This amount of filling is calculated to fit my peach-shape mould which has a capacity of about 80ml. However, if your mould is larger or smaller, you have to adjust the amount of filling for each kuih. Alternatively, if you are making the kuihs into round shapes without moulding them, just divide the filling evenly into 12 balls.

Pastry:
1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together glutinous rice flour, rice flour, salt and sugar.
2. Add the water/juice mixture and mix in, the dough will be quite dry and crumbly.

3. Remove about ¼ (about 150g) of the crumbly dough and divide it into 5-6 small pieces. Press each small piece of dough into a flat round (disc) shape and put into boiling water to cook. When the dough pieces float to the top, drain and put the cooked dough pieces back into the mixing bowl with the remaining uncooked crumbly dough.

4. Knead together the cooked and uncooked dough until smooth.

5. Add spinach and knead in until incorporated.

6. Add oil and knead in. Cover and rest the dough for 10 minutes before using.
7. Divide the dough into 12 even portions of about 50g each. You may have a little bit left over.
To shape the kuih:
1. Grease the plastic mould with oil, if the mould is wooden, dust with rice flour to prevent sticking. Prepare some banana leaves by blanching briefly in boiling water to soften, cut into small pieces to fit the kuih.
2. Take a piece of pastry dough and press into thin round shape. Put a rice filling ball in the centre and press the pastry around it to seal.
3. Put the filled dough into the prepared mould and press into shape. Knock out and place the shaped dough onto a piece of prepared banana leaves. If you don’t have the peach-shape mould, just form the filled dough into a ball and place onto the piece of prepared banana leaves.

4. Steam for 15-20 minutes. Serve hot with chilli sauce if desired.

5. These uneaten kuihs can be kept covered airtight in the refrigerator for a few days. Just reheat in the steamer, or pan-fry in a little oil before serving.

[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.

After my recent investigation into Chi Kak Kuih, my hands were itching to make some P’ng Kuihs. However I decided not to use the red colour, but to do a green coloured version.
After thinking of what to use to get the colour since I could not get my hands on any of the herbs mentioned in my Chi Kak Kuih post, I decided upon spinach. Well, I thought Italians use it to colour their pasta, so why can’t I use it to colour my kuih too? I wasn’t sure how the colour will turn out, but looking at the end result, it was actually quite nicely coloured, don’t you think?

Makes approx. 12 kuihs.

[Ingredients]
Filling:
120g glutinous rice, soaked for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight
60g split mung beans (去皮綠豆片), rinsed then soaked for about 2 hours
30g dried prawns (蝦米), soaked then roughly chopped
30g preserved daikon (chai poh 菜脯), finely chopped
3 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked then cubed
1 tbsp fried shallot flakes (油蔥酥)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2½ teaspoons light soy sauce
¼ teaspoon sesame oil
¼ teaspoon sugar
dash of ground white pepper
125ml (½ cup) water

This is the tinned chopped spinach imported from France that I used.

Pastry:
200g glutinous rice flour (糯米粉)
100g rice flour (粘米粉)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
100g chopped spinach (canned or frozen), squeezed to remove any excess juice
excess juice squeezed from the spinach + water to make 200ml
2 tablespoons canola or corn oil
Banana leaves for steaming
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Filling:
1. Sauté chopped garlic in 2 tablespoons canola or corn oil. Then add dried prawns and preserved daikon. Stir-fry briefly until fragrant. Add mushrooms, glutinous rice, mung beans and shallot flakes. Season to taste with light soy, sesame oil, sugar and pepper.

2. Transfer the rice filling into a tray or cake tin. Sprinkle about 1/3 amount of the 125ml water over the filling. Steam over high heat for 10 minutes. Fluff up the rice with a fork, then sprinkle with the second 1/3 amount of water. Steam another 10 minutes. Fluff up the rice again and sprinkle the rest of the water over the rice and steam another 10 minutes, or until cooked. Set aside to cool.

3. Prepare a bowl of water. Dip your hands in to wet your hands, this is to prevent rice filling sticking to your hands while dividing the rice filling. Scoop 2 tablespoons (about 40-50g) of the filling, and with your wet hands press lightly together to form a ball. Set aside. Repeat with the rest of the filling, you should get just over 12 rice balls. This amount of filling is calculated to fit my peach-shape mould which has a capacity of about 80ml. However, if your mould is larger or smaller, you have to adjust the amount of filling for each kuih. Alternatively, if you are making the kuihs into round shapes without moulding them, just divide the filling evenly into 12 balls.

Pastry:
1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together glutinous rice flour, rice flour, salt and sugar.
2. Add the water/juice mixture and mix in, the dough will be quite dry and crumbly.

3. Remove about ¼ (about 150g) of the crumbly dough and divide it into 5-6 small pieces. Press each small piece of dough into a flat round (disc) shape and put into boiling water to cook. When the dough pieces float to the top, drain and put the cooked dough pieces back into the mixing bowl with the remaining uncooked crumbly dough.

4. Knead together the cooked and uncooked dough until smooth.

5. Add spinach and knead in until incorporated.

6. Add oil and knead in. Cover and rest the dough for 10 minutes before using.
7. Divide the dough into 12 even portions of about 50g each. You may have a little bit left over.
To shape the kuih:
1. Grease the plastic mould with oil, if the mould is wooden, dust with rice flour to prevent sticking. Prepare some banana leaves by blanching briefly in boiling water to soften, cut into small pieces to fit the kuih.
2. Take a piece of pastry dough and press into thin round shape. Put a rice filling ball in the centre and press the pastry around it to seal.
3. Put the filled dough into the prepared mould and press into shape. Knock out and place the shaped dough onto a piece of prepared banana leaves. If you don’t have the peach-shape mould, just form the filled dough into a ball and place onto the piece of prepared banana leaves.

4. Steam for 15-20 minutes. Serve hot with chilli sauce if desired.

5. These uneaten kuihs can be kept covered airtight in the refrigerator for a few days. Just reheat in the steamer, or pan-fry in a little oil before serving.

[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.

This is the second time I have attempted to make this rice cake. The first time was a complete failure, I used those egg rings to make the little individual rice cakes but they all ended up dry and hard. Mind you, growing up in East Malaysia, I have never tasted these rice cakes before, so I wasn’t sure how the right texture should be, but I do know what I made was not right!
However I was surfing the net recently and came upon a recipe for the Chinese rice cake known as 定勝糕 (translated literally as ‘Sure Triumph Rice Cake’). I read through the recipe and to my amazement, the ingredients look almost identical to the recipe for Putu Piring, except for different flavouring and it was steamed as one whole cake rather than small individual ones like for Putu Piring. I was inspired since it did not need the Putu Piring moulds which I don’t have! So here’s my adaptation into Kuih Tu Tu.

Makes one 18cm kuih.

[Ingredients]
150g rice flour 水磨粘米粉
75g glutinous rice flour 水磨糯米粉
½ teaspoon salt
100ml water, or adjust as necessary
few drops pandan paste
50g dark brown sugar ç´…ç³–, sifted
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Line an 18cm aluminium steaming basket (with holes) with a piece of muslin. Prepare a wok for steaming with water about 2cm below where the steaming basket will be placed.

2. Combine both flours and salt in a mixing bowl. Add pandan paste to water, adjust colouring as desired.
3. Gradually add water to the flour mixture, rubbing the flour mixture as you add the water. Do this slowly as you want every grains of the flour to be moisten by the liquid. Once all the water is added, the flour mixture should resemble breadcrumbs. It should just clump together when you squeeze it in your hand, but break apart when you crumble it. If it is still too dry, add more water.

4. Sift the flour mixture.

5. Spoon half the flour mixture into the prepared steaming basket. Use something flat to level the surface, but try not to compress it. Sprinkle the dark brown sugar evenly over the flour mixture. Spoon the remaining flour mixture over the sugar and again level the surface.

6. Steam over medium high heat for about 30 minutes, or until the rice cake is cooked.

7. Turn out and cut into small pieces. Serve immediately.

[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.

This is the second time I have attempted to make this rice cake. The first time was a complete failure, I used those egg rings to make the little individual rice cakes but they all ended up dry and hard. Mind you, growing up in East Malaysia, I have never tasted these rice cakes before, so I wasn’t sure how the right texture should be, but I do know what I made was not right!
However I was surfing the net recently and came upon a recipe for the Chinese rice cake known as 定勝糕 (translated literally as ‘Sure Triumph Rice Cake′). I read through the recipe and to my amazement, the ingredients look almost identical to the recipe for Putu Piring, except for different flavouring and it was steamed as one whole cake rather than small individual ones like for Putu Piring. I was inspired since it did not need the Putu Piring moulds which I don’t have! So here’s my adaptation into Kuih Tu Tu.

Makes one 18cm kuih.

[Ingredients]
150g rice flour 水磨粘米粉
75g glutinous rice flour 水磨糯米粉
½ teaspoon salt
100ml water, or adjust as necessary
few drops pandan paste
50g dark brown sugar 紅糖, sifted
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Line an 18cm aluminium steaming basket (with holes) with a piece of muslin. Prepare a wok for steaming with water about 2cm below where the steaming basket will be placed.

2. Combine both flours and salt in a mixing bowl. Add pandan paste to water, adjust colouring as desired.
3. Gradually add water to the flour mixture, rubbing the flour mixture as you add the water. Do this slowly as you want every grains of the flour to be moisten by the liquid. Once all the water is added, the flour mixture should resemble breadcrumbs. It should just clump together when you squeeze it in your hand, but break apart when you crumble it. If it is still too dry, add more water.

4. Sift the flour mixture.

5. Spoon half the flour mixture into the prepared steaming basket. Use something flat to level the surface, but try not to compress it. Sprinkle the dark brown sugar evenly over the flour mixture. Spoon the remaining flour mixture over the sugar and again level the surface.

6. Steam over medium high heat for about 30 minutes, or until the rice cake is cooked.

7. Turn out and cut into small pieces. Serve immediately.

[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.

After making the Frangipane Apple Pies recently, I had about a cup of apple pie filling leftover, so I used it up making this cake.

Makes one 20cm cake.

[Ingredients]
2¼ cups (330g) plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarb. of soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
200ml sour cream
2/3 cup (160ml) milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
60ml canola oil
1 cup apple pie filling
2 teaspoons pure icing sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin. Mix icing sugar and cinnamon.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, soda, salt and caster sugar into a mixing bowl.
3. Combine sour cream, milk, beaten eggs and oil and pour into the dry ingredients.
4. Blend gently with a metal spoon until smooth and well combined. Alternatively this can be mixed in a food processor.
5. Spoon half the batter into the prepared tin. Spoon the apple pie filling evenly over the batter. Top with the remaining batter.
6. Bake for about 60-70 minutes, or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
7. Remove from oven and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly over the cake. Let cool for 15-20 minutes in tin, then carefully turn out onto a cooling rack.

[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.

Gading Galoh or Putri Salat, sound unfamiliar? I believe these are the Nyonya and Malay names respectively for Kuih Salat or Serimuka which are more popularly called nowadays. Usually when I made Kuih Salat, I left the rice white which is usually how the kuih is sold nowadays. This time I have done the marbling effect for the rice so I am calling it Gading Galoh since I believe this is how the traditional Nyonya version is done using the blue bunga telang extract.
This two layered rice ‘cake’ is extremely popular in Malaysia and Singapore. The base comprises of a layer of compressed glutinous rice (can be white or marbled with bunga telang extract) and the top is a layer of pandan flavoured coconut custard. The custard can be very soft or firm depending on personal taste. I prefer the firmer custard myself which is not as messy to eat because you can pick up the kuih without squashing the custard.
Since I tried out the colouring of the rice in my first ever making of Pulut Tai Tai, I wanted to try again because the colouring was not to my satisfaction, and the marbling was not too effective. The use of only blue colouring turned out too ‘metallic’ looking and it looked very artificial. I wanted to soften the colour this time and add some red pigment to the blue colour so that it is not as ‘jarring’ to the eyes as before. Of course all this could have been avoided if I could only get my hands on the bunga telang for its natural colour… Oh, well…
This time, the colour actually turned out very nice, a sort of mauve-magenta colour which is much more soothing to the eyes, don’t you think? I also changed the method of colouring the rice by soaking some uncooked rice in the coloured water before steaming rather than adding colour after steaming, and the marbling turned out much better too in my humble opinion.

Makes one 20cm kuih.

[Ingredients]
Rice:
1½ cups (300g) glutinous rice
bunga telang extract, or use 3-5 drops rose-pink food colouring combined with 1 drop blue food colouring, or adjust colouring to your liking
300ml thin coconut milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 banana leaf, softened
5 pandan leaves, tore along the length then knotted
Custard:
3 eggs, lightly beaten
175g caster sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt (optional)
300ml thick coconut milk
3 (35g) - 6 tablespoons (70g) plain flour *
1 (10g) - 2 tablespoons (20g) tapioca flour *
¼ teaspoon pandan paste
* Add less if you prefer soft custardy texture, more if you prefer solid, firmer texture
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Rice:
1. Rinse the rice, then soak 1 cup of the glutinous rice in plain water. Soak the remaining ½ cup glutinous rice in water coloured with the food colouring to get a mauve/indigo colour, adjust the colour to your liking. Soak the rice at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.

2. Line a 20cm square or round tin with softened banana leaf.
3. Drain both the uncoloured and coloured rice. Dissolve salt in thin coconut milk.
4. Spoon the uncoloured and coloured rice alternatively into the lined tin to create a marbling effect. Add seasoned coconut milk. Put the knotted pandan leaves on top.
5. Steam the rice in a wok for 25-30 minutes, or until rice is cooked. Remove from steamer, discard pandan leaves and use a piece of banana leaf or baking paper to press the rice to compress the rice.
Custard:
1. Combine eggs, sugar, salt and thick coconut milk in a mixing bowl. Add sifted plain flour and tapioca flour, beat in lightly to combine. Add pandan paste.
2. When the rice is cooked, remove rice from the wok then place mixing bowl in the simmering water (bain-marie style) and whisk continuously until the custard mixture is hot to the touch, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Pour the warm custard on top of the cooked rice base. Make sure the surface of the rice is moisture free before pouring in the custard so that the custard will adhere properly to the rice.
4. Steam over low gentle heat for about 1 hour, or until the custard is set.
5. Let cool completely before cutting into diamond shapes to serve.

[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.

In the past week or so, I chanced upon two articles on the internet about a rarely seen Teochew kuih in Malaysia or Singapore nowadays. Well, well, after just blogging about bunga telang in my Pulut Tai Tai post recently, this is another traditional kuih which uses a plant to obtain its colour. So I thought I would continue with this theme and blog about this kuih, although I am not able to make it due to the unavailability of the plant. This kuih is a peach shaped kuih called Chi Kak Kuih, its pastry skin is dark olive green in colour and the filling is sweet mung bean paste. A picture of it is here from 星洲日報 (Sinchew Newspaper of Malaysia), although the photo is not true to colour.
It piques my interest as I’ve never seen, let alone tasted this kuih before. The red savoury version called Toh Kuih (桃粿) or P’ng Kuih (飯粿), with glutinous rice filling, is probably more recognizable as it is more readily available. I can faintly recall seeing the Chinese name of Chi Kak Kuih 鼠麴粿 on Taiwanese websites a couple of years ago, but never seen a picture of it before. So when within a couple of days, I came upon two images of the kuih (the other one is from the blog, ieatishootipost), I thought I would do some investigation into this kuih.
The Chinese name of 鼠麴粿 is also written as 鼠粬粿, 鼠殼粿, or 茨殼粿, the latter is probably a ‘beautified’ name from the sound of dialect pronunciation. Apparently, the colour of the pastry is made using a weedy herb known as Jersey cudweed, its Latin/Scientific name is Gnaphalium affine. (Note: it is essential when identifying plant to use its Scientific name which is unique to a particular plant, as normal English or Chinese names are sometimes not unique, same names may apply to another completely different plant.) In Chinese it is called 鼠麴草, thus its phonetic name of Chi Kak (Teochew dialect?). In Japan, the plant is known as hahakogusa.

Jersey cudweed 鼠麴草
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

To make the pastry of this kuih, the tender leaves of the plant is first collected and boiled to get rid of its bitter/tart taste, then the softened leaves are pounded into a paste. The green paste is then mixed with glutinous rice flour to make the pastry skin. The leaves not only provide a colour, but they apparently also add a distinct flavour to the kuih which is unique. In Teochew tradition, this kuih is also part of the new year snacks served for festivities.
Jersey cudweed, however, is not the only plant which is used to make this type of herb kuih 草仔粿. In Taiwan another relative of Jersey cudweed, the purple cudweed, 鼠麴舅 or its Scientific name of Gnaphalium purpureum (now reclassified as Gamochaeta purpurea) is widely used as a substitution since it is more widely available.

Purple cudweed 鼠麴舅
Photo courtesy of Invasive.org
Photographer: James H. Miller, USDA Forest Service, United States

Then again, the Hakka likes to use another plant, the Japanese mugwort or ‘yomogi’ in Japanese, 艾草 or its Scientific name of Artemisia princeps to make this kuih, naturally then the kuih is called 艾粄 in Hakka. In Japan, a wagashi called Kusamochi is also made from using this plant. However, Japanese have developed a powdered yomogi called yomogi-ko (草餅粉) which makes it so much easier to use.

Japanese mugwort 艾草
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Finally, there is a recipe for Or Ku Kuih 烏龜粿 by Malaysian cookery writer, Amy Beh, which uses the leaves of a plant called ‘daun rami’ to get a dark colour. However I can’t seem to find any references of ‘daun rami’ anywhere at first. Then reading through one of the Chinese articles when searching for information about Jersey cudweed, it briefly mentioned another plant known as ‘Chinese grass’ (苧麻) which was also used to make herb kuih using only its tender young leaves. Its scientific name is Boehmeria nivea and its other common name is ‘ramie’. Ah-ha, maybe ‘daun rami’ referred to this plant? I did some more research and finally confirmed that ramie is also known as rami or rami-rami. However, it is believed that there is another variety of the same species Boehmeria nivea var. tenacissima (青苧麻), though sometimes regarded as a distinct species B. tenacissima which is thought to have originated in the tropical Malay Peninsula. This tropical variety is also known as ‘rhea’ or ‘zami’. So I believe this must be the one referred to as ‘daun rami’ in the recipe.

Ramie, or Rami 苧麻
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The method of preparation for ramie leaves is quite similar. Here’s a method I kept from an old thread (this thread is not available online anymore, so I’m re-posting it here for future references) at Makansutra’s Lor Sor Forums in 2003 by a Malaccan member there, yoshie, who revealed this traditional method of preparation for the leaves: “I took the opportunity to ask her (mum) about Kueh Khoo Hitam… which is all about the fragrance from the leaves.
She said that the leaves must be harvested and dried in the sun.
Then, the leaves have to be cooked together with gula melaka and water (as little as possible), a little ayer abu (akaline water) is added to the leaves and gula melaka mixture as it is being cooked – till the leaves really soften, and the mixture is a sticky mess. This is most hardest part, it seems, of the entire process - the hot mixture splatters, etc.
Next, the sticky mixture has to be ground into a paste, by using the huge stone grinder – the one that we use to grind any kind of grain – you have to use your whole body to turn the thing.
The paste then has to be mixed with glutinous rice and coconut milk.
The rest of the procedure you can easily guess – just like making kueh khoo merah.
By the way, she said the leaves are easily available in most peranakan homes – so just ask any peranakan friend in Malacca (especially the old cronies) – they would probably be happy to help. The plant grows very easily, and needs minimal care, if at all.”
Another simpler method is also from the same thread at Makansutra’s Lor Sor Forums by another member, lmdt, who wrote: “I was taught to boil the leaves in a little water and squeeze the juice of a limau nipis… the acid from the lime will draw the black colouring from the leaves.”
Then another similar method from 瓜子坊 forums by a member, kellylam, who said: “它的叶子正面是绿色但反面是带点米白色的，而带点粗糙的感觉，用了差不多三十片，多少随你意，放在锅里加点油煮开。。
煮好了的叶子，用夹子夹起来，去掉水份，待凉了，把硬的茎拔掉，然后拿去搅拌机器里磨碎，越细越好。。”

Disclaimer:
Please note that if you are unfamiliar with these plants, please do not collect them by yourself and eat them as these information are for reference purposes only, I cannot guarantee they are safe to use since all the information here are gathered from the internet. Please consult someone who is knowledgeable about these plants and has used them before. I therefore hold no responsibility under any circumstances if there are errors in these information.

The following is some history and recipes for making this traditional kuih I collected from the internet, mostly from the generic articles readily available from a lot of websites in China.

鼠麴粿是潮汕、閩南地區名小吃之一，現主要流行於潮汕東部的饒平，潮安，澄海，汕頭一帶，是逢年過節必備的粿品。每年農歷十二月二十四日至翌年元宵，家家戶戶都製鼠麴粿，供敬奉神明和祖先及待客，一直流傳至今。
相傳南宋年間，在元兵入侵潮汕地區時，當兵荒馬亂，百姓流落於荒野之中，特別是冬寒饑餓，無物可充饑，人們發現田中有一種野草「鼠麴」。這種草既能充饑，又無毒，還有特殊的香味，便把它拿來食用。後發現該青草可以滲入大米磨成漿來做成粿，逐漸便認識到這種青草是一種好東西，為了方便使用，把摘來的青草用太陽曬乾，可以蓄藏。在逢年過節時，隨時都可以使用。後來這粿品經民間逐步改進，把原使用大米製的粿皮改為使用糯米和蕃薯，這樣使粿皮比較柔軟，再把粿餡從原來用蕃薯和紅糖，改為用綠豆沙餡，有的是用紅豆沙餡，還有的是用花生仁炒熟後脫膜用白砂糖研碎爛作餡。這一改進便成粿皮柔軟不澀，餡甜香，軟滑，滋潤，也就成為名小吃。
鼠麴草是一種藥草，藥名「白頭翁」，中藥學以全草入藥。潮汕百草良方載﹕「本品甘，平。有止咳平喘，降血壓，祛風濕的功用。」主治感冒、咳嗽、哮喘、高血壓、支氣管炎、風濕腰腿痛、解毒。外治跌打損傷，毒蛇咬傷。
鼠麴草（英文名﹕Gnaphalium affine D.Don），又名鼠粬草、清明菜、田艾、鼠耳草、鼠殼棉、佛耳草、白頭草等。鼠麴草為菊科植物，二年生草本，芯末開白色小花，花蕾及枝葉有棉絮狀的白色纖維。一般生在路旁，田地，山坡，草地等，春夏間採收較多，分佈在中國的黃河流域以南各省區，潮汕地區特別多。
《潮州府誌》中已有用鼠殼草製作粿品的記載。如《府誌．物產》有﹕「鼠麴，葉似馬齒莧，潮之業農者雜米粉作糗（糕點）。」可知這種傳統食品的歷史悠久。鼠麴草從田間採集後，選摘芯葉入鍋熬煮，瀝去澀水之後，放入石臼舂爛。再以糯米粉摻和揉製成團塊，作為粿皮。再將團塊分成小塊，捏成圓餅，中包粿餡，餡有甜、鹹、雙烹數種。甜餡有紅豆或綠豆加糖製成豆沙；鹹餡有糯米飯加香菇、肉丁、蝦米、花生仁、香料等；雙烹則一半是甜的一半是鹹的。包製粿餡之後，放入雕刻精美的木模（粿印）壓印成粿胚，墊在蕉葉上入蒸籠蒸熟。粿印要勤擦花生油才不會粘壞粿形。如果做得太多，吃不完還可以再蒸熱或在鍋中用油煎，入口軟香甜潤，別具風味。
因鼠麴草有調和胃氣和清熱去濕，退腸火等作用，故鼠麴粿可算是藥膳食品，備受青睞。

In the past week or so, I chanced upon two articles on the internet about a rarely seen Teochew kuih in Malaysia or Singapore nowadays. Well, well, after just blogging about bunga telang in my Pulut Tai Tai post recently, this is another traditional kuih which uses a plant to obtain its colour. So I thought I would continue with this theme and blog about this kuih, although I am not able to make it due to the unavailability of the plant. This kuih is a peach shaped kuih called Chi Kak Kuih, its pastry skin is dark olive green in colour and the filling is sweet mung bean paste. A picture of it is here from 星洲日報 (Sinchew Newspaper of Malaysia), although the photo is not true to colour.
It piques my interest as I’ve never seen, let alone tasted this kuih before. The red savoury version called Toh Kuih (桃粿) or P’ng Kuih (飯粿), with glutinous rice filling, is probably more recognizable as it is more readily available. I can faintly recall seeing the Chinese name of Chi Kak Kuih 鼠麴粿 on Taiwanese websites a couple of years ago, but never seen a picture of it before. So when within a couple of days, I came upon two images of the kuih (the other one is from the blog, ieatishootipost), I thought I would do some investigation into this kuih.
The Chinese name of 鼠麴粿 is also written as 鼠粬粿, 鼠殼粿, or 茨殼粿, the latter is probably a ‘beautified’ name from the sound of dialect pronunciation. Apparently, the colour of the pastry is made using a weedy herb known as Jersey cudweed, its Latin/Scientific name is Gnaphalium affine. (Note: it is essential when identifying plant to use its Scientific name which is unique to a particular plant, as normal English or Chinese names are sometimes not unique, same names may apply to another completely different plant.) In Chinese it is called 鼠麴草, thus its phonetic name of Chi Kak (Teochew dialect?). In Japan, the plant is known as hahakogusa.

Jersey cudweed 鼠麴草
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

To make the pastry of this kuih, the tender leaves of the plant is first collected and boiled to get rid of its bitter/tart taste, then the softened leaves are pounded into a paste. The green paste is then mixed with glutinous rice flour to make the pastry skin. The leaves not only provide a colour, but they apparently also add a distinct flavour to the kuih which is unique. In Teochew tradition, this kuih is also part of the new year snacks served for festivities.
Jersey cudweed, however, is not the only plant which is used to make this type of herb kuih 草仔粿. In Taiwan another relative of Jersey cudweed, the purple cudweed, 鼠麴舅 or its Scientific name of Gnaphalium purpureum (now reclassified as Gamochaeta purpurea) is widely used as a substitution since it is more widely available.

Purple cudweed 鼠麴舅
Photo courtesy of Invasive.org
Photographer: James H. Miller, USDA Forest Service, United States

Then again, the Hakka likes to use another plant, the Japanese mugwort or ‘yomogi’ in Japanese, 艾草 or its Scientific name of Artemisia princeps to make this kuih, naturally then the kuih is called 艾粄 in Hakka. In Japan, a wagashi called Kusamochi is also made from using this plant. However, Japanese have developed a powdered yomogi called yomogi-ko (草餅粉) which makes it so much easier to use.

Japanese mugwort 艾草
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Finally, there is a recipe for Or Ku Kuih 烏龜粿 by Malaysian cookery writer, Amy Beh, which uses the leaves of a plant called ‘daun rami’ to get a dark colour. However I can’t seem to find any references of ‘daun rami’ anywhere at first. Then reading through one of the Chinese articles when searching for information about Jersey cudweed, it briefly mentioned another plant known as ‘Chinese grass’ (苧麻) which was also used to make herb kuih using only its tender young leaves. Its scientific name is Boehmeria nivea and its other common name is ‘ramie’. Ah-ha, maybe ‘daun rami’ referred to this plant? I did some more research and finally confirmed that ramie is also known as rami or rami-rami. However, it is believed that there is another variety of the same species Boehmeria nivea var. tenacissima (青苧麻), though sometimes regarded as a distinct species B. tenacissima which is thought to have originated in the tropical Malay Peninsula. This tropical variety is also known as ‘rhea’ or ‘zami’. So I believe this must be the one referred to as ‘daun rami’ in the recipe.

Ramie, or Rami 苧麻
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The method of preparation for ramie leaves is quite similar. Here’s a method I kept from an old thread (this thread is not available online anymore, so I’m re-posting it here for future references) at Makansutra’s Lor Sor Forums in 2003 by a Malaccan member there, yoshie, who revealed this traditional method of preparation for the leaves: “I took the opportunity to ask her (mum) about Kueh Khoo Hitam… which is all about the fragrance from the leaves.
She said that the leaves must be harvested and dried in the sun.
Then, the leaves have to be cooked together with gula melaka and water (as little as possible), a little ayer abu (akaline water) is added to the leaves and gula melaka mixture as it is being cooked – till the leaves really soften, and the mixture is a sticky mess. This is most hardest part, it seems, of the entire process - the hot mixture splatters, etc.
Next, the sticky mixture has to be ground into a paste, by using the huge stone grinder – the one that we use to grind any kind of grain – you have to use your whole body to turn the thing.
The paste then has to be mixed with glutinous rice and coconut milk.
The rest of the procedure you can easily guess – just like making kueh khoo merah.
By the way, she said the leaves are easily available in most peranakan homes – so just ask any peranakan friend in Malacca (especially the old cronies) – they would probably be happy to help. The plant grows very easily, and needs minimal care, if at all.”
Another simpler method is also from the same thread at Makansutra’s Lor Sor Forums by another member, lmdt, who wrote: “I was taught to boil the leaves in a little water and squeeze the juice of a limau nipis… the acid from the lime will draw the black colouring from the leaves.”
Then another similar method from 瓜子坊 forums by a member, kellylam, who said: “它的叶子正面是绿色但反面是带点米白色的，而带点粗糙的感觉，用了差不多三十片，多少随你意，放在锅里加点油煮开。。
煮好了的叶子，用夹子夹起来，去掉水份，待凉了，把硬的茎拔掉，然后拿去搅拌机器里磨碎，越细越好。。”

Disclaimer:
Please note that if you are unfamiliar with these plants, please do not collect them by yourself and eat them as these information are for reference purposes only, I cannot guarantee they are safe to use since all the information here are gathered from the internet. Please consult someone who is knowledgeable about these plants and has used them before. I therefore hold no responsibility under any circumstances if there are errors in these information.

The following is some history and recipes for making this traditional kuih I collected from the internet, mostly from the generic articles readily available from a lot of websites in China.

鼠麴粿是潮汕、閩南地區名小吃之一，現主要流行於潮汕東部的饒平，潮安，澄海，汕頭一帶，是逢年過節必備的粿品。每年農歷十二月二十四日至翌年元宵，家家戶戶都製鼠麴粿，供敬奉神明和祖先及待客，一直流傳至今。
相傳南宋年間，在元兵入侵潮汕地區時，當兵荒馬亂，百姓流落於荒野之中，特別是冬寒饑餓，無物可充饑，人們發現田中有一種野草「鼠麴」。這種草既能充饑，又無毒，還有特殊的香味，便把它拿來食用。後發現該青草可以滲入大米磨成漿來做成粿，逐漸便認識到這種青草是一種好東西，為了方便使用，把摘來的青草用太陽曬乾，可以蓄藏。在逢年過節時，隨時都可以使用。後來這粿品經民間逐步改進，把原使用大米製的粿皮改為使用糯米和蕃薯，這樣使粿皮比較柔軟，再把粿餡從原來用蕃薯和紅糖，改為用綠豆沙餡，有的是用紅豆沙餡，還有的是用花生仁炒熟後脫膜用白砂糖研碎爛作餡。這一改進便成粿皮柔軟不澀，餡甜香，軟滑，滋潤，也就成為名小吃。
鼠麴草是一種藥草，藥名「白頭翁」，中藥學以全草入藥。潮汕百草良方載﹕「本品甘，平。有止咳平喘，降血壓，祛風濕的功用。」主治感冒、咳嗽、哮喘、高血壓、支氣管炎、風濕腰腿痛、解毒。外治跌打損傷，毒蛇咬傷。
鼠麴草（英文名﹕Gnaphalium affine D.Don），又名鼠粬草、清明菜、田艾、鼠耳草、鼠殼棉、佛耳草、白頭草等。鼠麴草為菊科植物，二年生草本，芯末開白色小花，花蕾及枝葉有棉絮狀的白色纖維。一般生在路旁，田地，山坡，草地等，春夏間採收較多，分佈在中國的黃河流域以南各省區，潮汕地區特別多。
《潮州府誌》中已有用鼠殼草製作粿品的記載。如《府誌．物產》有﹕「鼠麴，葉似馬齒莧，潮之業農者雜米粉作糗（糕點）。」可知這種傳統食品的歷史悠久。鼠麴草從田間採集後，選摘芯葉入鍋熬煮，瀝去澀水之後，放入石臼舂爛。再以糯米粉摻和揉製成團塊，作為粿皮。再將團塊分成小塊，捏成圓餅，中包粿餡，餡有甜、鹹、雙烹數種。甜餡有紅豆或綠豆加糖製成豆沙；鹹餡有糯米飯加香菇、肉丁、蝦米、花生仁、香料等；雙烹則一半是甜的一半是鹹的。包製粿餡之後，放入雕刻精美的木模（粿印）壓印成粿胚，墊在蕉葉上入蒸籠蒸熟。粿印要勤擦花生油才不會粘壞粿形。如果做得太多，吃不完還可以再蒸熱或在鍋中用油煎，入口軟香甜潤，別具風味。
因鼠麴草有調和胃氣和清熱去濕，退腸火等作用，故鼠麴粿可算是藥膳食品，備受青睞。