Coco's Sweet Tooth: Vegetarian Chwee Kueh 水粿

This is one of my to do list when I became a full time housewife 3 years ago. Growing up in Singapore and Johor Bahru, I was lucky to be exposed to lots of wonderful asian cooking and desserts such as Fried Carrot Cake (fried with black caramel sauce), Teo Chew Orh Nee 潮式芋泥, Tau Suan / Split Mung Bean Dessert 绿豆爽 with 油條, Chwee Kueh 水粿, Teo Chew Porridge and the list goes on. 

Being a Malaysian, my palette is still very much influenced by Singapore hawker food. Yes, we do have wide choices of good local food in my home country, and over the years of hunting for the same food throughout Malaysia, rarely have I come across places that sells those food exactly as what I remembered from Singapore.

I started making my first Chwee Kueh with the recipe from Minty's blog and had so far been quite happy with the outcome. The texture may not be as tender and chewy as I hoped, I was happy to woofed down every bit of it since it was so hard to come by when living in Indonesia. 

As I turned vegan, I started to adapt some of the recipes to vegetarian version. For this posting, I am sharing a vegetarian version of the toppings and sweet sauce together with the kueh which I personally enjoy. The sauce part is entirely optional for I prefer to eat this kueh with a bit of sauce than sambal. From studying the many versions of Chwee Kueh recipes from numerous reputable food bloggers out there, I have bookmarked to try recipe from  Kitchen Tigress and Guai Shu Shu   in my next try. Shall keep you posted.

Vegetarian Chwee Kueh 水粿 

Recipe adapted from Minty's Blog

(Kueh)

160g Rice Flour

2 Tbsp Cornflour (optional)

2 Tbsp Wheat Starch

185ml Cold Water

550ml Boiling Water

3 Tbsp Cooking Oil

1 Tsp Sugar

Pinch of Salt

Method

• Fill the steamer pot / tray with sufficient water. Steam the chwee kueh moulds while preparing the batter.

• Sift rice flour, cornflour and wheat starch into a mixing bowl and mix evenly. 

• Add salt, cooking oil and cold water to the above mixture and stir to combine.

• Add  boiling water into the batter and mix thoroughly. 

• Pour the batter into individual pre-steamed moulds until 90% full and steam under medium high heat for 15-20 mins or until the kueh is set.

• Leave to cool in moulds. Remove the kuehs and set aside until ready for consumption.

(Topping)

200g Preserved Salted Radish (Chye Poh), chopped 

200g Preserved Sweet Radish (Chye Poh), chopped

40g Vegetarian Dried Shrimps, chopped finely (optional)

30g Ginger, chopped finely (optional)

90ml Oil

1-2 Tbsp Sugar or more

Soy Sauce

Method

• You may prepare the toppings in advance. 

• In a frying pan, heat up oil and saute chopped ginger until fragrant. 

• Stir in vegetarian dried shrimp and continue stir frying for 30 secs.  Toss in the preserved radish and continue stir frying on medium to low heat. Add additional oil if required. Continue to stir fry until the radish turn to darker shade of brownish. 

• Add sugar and soy sauce to taste. Stir for another minute until sugar dissolves.

• Spoon as much of the toppings to the chwee kueh as you like.

• Unfinished toppings can be stored in the fridge for future use.

(Vegetarian Sweet Sauce)

4 Tbsp Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Black Bean Paste
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
2 Tsp Vinegar
2 Tsp Sesame Oil
2 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1/2 Tsp Dark Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp Kecap Manis
1/8 Tsp Vegetarian Five Spice Powder (Optional)
1/2 - 3/4 Cup Water
Corn flour Solution (Corn flour + Cold water)

Method

• In a medium sauce pan, bring the water to a boil. Set the heat to medium low and gradually add in all ingredients while stirring with a hand whisk until the mixture thicken to the right consistency.

• Add corn flour solution if you prefer a thicker texture sauce.