Malaysian Seri Muka Kuih

A sweet dessert made from glutinous rice and flavoured with gorgeous pandan (screwpine) leaves and coconut milk, it’s a real tea time treat.

Hello!

It has been a long time since my last post hasn't it? I blame the house move and no internet for my absence. Now, I finally have fibre broadband installed and have moved out of the dark ages.

So, what have I been cooking? Well, I made this delicious Malaysian dessert last week. Pandan and coconut milk always make such an aromatic and tasty combination.

I hope you don’t get overwhelmed by the recipe, it’s just a few steps that you need to plan for. Otherwise it really isn't that daunting and is very do-able! If you make this you can always show me on Twitter or Instagram by tagging @leowailin or using the hashtag #nomsieskitchen. Enjoy!

Click Here for Printable Recipe

Recipe for Seri Muka

(Adapted from Nonya Flavours Book)

Ingredients

White Glutinous Base Layer

250gm Glutinous Rice, soaked overnight or at least 4 hours

250ml Coconut Milk

¾ tsp Salt                             

2 Pandan Leaves

Green Custard Top Layer

100ml Natural Pandan Essence (4 pandan leaves blended with some water and strained)

200gm Sugar

100ml Water

6 Eggs

30gm Custard Powder

1 Tbsp Plain Flour

300ml Coconut Milk

*Note: The original recipe called for 1 tsp Alkaline water and 1 tsp Tapioca Flour to be added. I omitted these as I didn't have the ingredients and as such, can’t say what the addition of these ingredients would have made.

Method

1. Line a 20cm (8”) tin with parchment paper. If you have a square tin, you may want to use that as it makes it easier to cut the kuih. I used a round cake tin. If you are using a spring form tin like me, you may want to wrap the outside base of the tin with some aluminium foil to prevent any leakage of the mixture. 

2. Drain the glutinous rice and press it into a flat layer in the tin. Mix the coconut milk with the salt and pour over the rice. Place the 2 Pandan leaves on top.

3. Place the tin into a steamer and steam for 20 minutes. While the glutinous rice is steaming, prepare the top layer.

4. Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a pot, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and cool. Don’t allow the sugar to caramelise.

5. Next, break the eggs into a mixing bowl and beat lightly. Stir in the cooled sugar syrup.

6. Mix the custard powder, plain flour and coconut milk and add into the egg and syrup mixture. Add in the pandan essence and stir to blend. Strain the mixture.

7. Once the glutinous rice has steamed for 20 minutes, remove from the steamer and press down the rice to compact it with the back of a wet spoon. Return to the steamer and steam for another 3 minutes. The bottom rice layer has to be hot when you pour the top layer over.

8. While the base layer is steaming again, cook the top layer. Pour the strained mixture into a pot and cook, stirring continuously over a low flame until the mixture starts to become slightly lumpy. This should take about 2-3 minutes. I cannot emphasise the need to stir continuously enough – you don’t want the mixture to come together too much or to be too lumpy.

9. Pour the top layer slowly over the steamed glutinous rice in the steamer. Steam for 15-20 minutes over a low flame or until the top layer has set.

10. Cool the kuih for at least 2 hours before cutting. Again, this step is important to allow the kuih to set. If you are living in a colder climate, you can get away with cooling the kuih for an hour.