Cafes & Wineries

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。