Orh Kueh Recipe for #AuntieCookalong 3
+ bonus fish soup recipe
Next Wednesday, Singapore Noodles would be hosting the third installment of #AuntieCookalong. In the past week, I’ve made Honey Chicken with my mom and Waaji(k) with Taahira and Mama Zi and they’ve both been deeeelicious!
If you didn’t manage to catch the our first two cookalongs, you can check them out under the IGTV section of @sgpnoodles. You can find the recipes in my previous newsletter, but I must say that there’s a lot of agak-agak so watch the IGTV and make your own judgment on how much of each ingredient to add! 😜
Here’s the recipe and ingredients for the upcoming cookalong - this is one I’m excited about because I find it quite hard to master. I’ve never made it at home, but I’ve seen my mother-in-law make it and each time it comes out slightly different because she adds water by eye rather than by measurement! Join us if you’re free ☺️
Wednesday 24/6 – 6pm SGT / 8pm AEST - Yam Cake (orh kueh/ lor bak gou) with Tze Yi & Auntie Wai Yen on IG Live
Steamed yam cake (from Tze Yi & Auntie Wai Yen)
For the yam paste:
45g cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
300g skinned and cubed yam (taro)
100g water
For the flour batter:
125g rice flour
20g cornflour
3/4 teaspoon salt
600ml water
1/2 tsp five spice powder
Topping A:
25g dried shrimp, chopped
50g salty radish (cai poh), rinsed, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons oil
Sugar, to taste
Topping B:
70g pre-fried shallot crisps
1/2 red chili, de-seeded, diced
2 sprigs spring onion, chopped
Heat oil in pan over medium heat and fry yam with salt and pepper for 1 min. Add water and cover to stew till water dries up. Stir occasionally. Once yam is cooked and soft, mash into a rough paste.
Combine ingredients for the flour batter and give it a good mix. Mix the flour batter into the yam paste - it should have a thick consistency. Place thickened yam batter into a steamer mold/ bowl to steam over high heat for 30 mins.
While the yam batter is steaming, fry ingredients in Topping A till light brown. Prepare the rest of Topping B and set aside. After 30mins, remove yam cake from the steamer and garnish with Topping A and B immediately. Cool yam cake before slicing to prevent sticking.
Steamed turnip cake (from Singapore Noodles)
Makes a 9-10” round kueh
350g rice flour
80g wheat starch
Soaking liquid (see below) + enough water to get 650g
1 ½ tsp salt, or to taste
4 tbsp oil
65g peeled and minced red onions
25g dried mushrooms, soaked and diced (soaking liquid reserved for the slurry)
40g dried shrimp, soaked and chopped (soaking liquid reserved for the slurry)
15g peeled and minced garlic
3 Chinese sausages, diced
600g daikon, cut into matchsticks
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp Shaoxing
½ tsp salt or to taste
1 tbsp oil
Greased 9-10” cake pan
Stir together rice flour, wheat starch, soaking liquid, and salt to taste. Set aside. In a wok or large saucepan, heat the oil on medium high heat. Add the onions and fry until starting to brown. Add the diced mushroom and fry a few more minutes until fragrant. Add the dried shrimp and fry until the shrimp starts popping. Add the minced garlic and Chinese sausage and fry for one last minute. Add the daikon, salt, oyster sauce, sugar, and Shaoxing. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
Turn the heat to low. Stir the slurry well, then add it to the wok. Stir and cook until the mixture becomes a paste. If you prefer a more watery, wobbly kueh, cook this paste less. But if you prefer a denser kueh like what I am demonstrating in this video, cook it more so that the mixture is stiffer. You still want the mixture to be easily spread out. Turn off the heat slightly before it comes to that point, because, like eggs, the mixture will keep cooking and thickening.
Transfer to a 9-10” lined springform cake pan that has been greased. If using a non-springform pan, line the bottom with a piece of parchment. Steam the kueh on medium high heat for 45 minutes or until the toothpick emerges mostly clean (a little residue is fine). You might need to top up the steamer with boiling water midway through the cooking. When the kueh emerges from the steamer, the top might look wet or gooey, but that’s fine – it will dry up as the kueh cools. Serve warm, or cut when it is completely chilled (in the fridge) into rectangles and pan-fry.
Bonus recipe: Milky Fried Fish Soup
Written by Tze Yi Gan
A familiar scene comes to mind every time I eat fish noodle soup – my family sitting around the old marble dining table, happily relishing our fried fish and noodles. These were served in large traditional Chinese vessels specially reserved for fish noodles, decorated with ornate blue trimmings and a large blue koi fish painted on the side. Condiments would be laid out on the table: freshly chopped parsley, ginger wine, cut chili padi in fish sauce, thinly sliced fried fish and white ground pepper. I still fondly remember the aromas pleasantly wafting through the entire house. This scene is neither dramatic, nor soul-stirring, but it is memorable and significant because it is simple and represents happiness, comfort and bliss.
My mum has tweaked this recipe over the years to suit my family’s preferences, so feel free to adjust the flavours/ cooking method according to your own preferences!
Recipe Notes
We use the pressure cooker to do most of our cooking, but this recipe works perfectly fine on the stove as well. The only difference is that you would have to simmer the soup base for 3 hrs or more instead of 1 hr in the pressure cooker
To make an extra tasty pot of soup, you can deep fry instead of shallow fry the fish bones till golden brown
Our family typically eats this dish with fried fish slices, but you can opt to boil the fish slices in the fish soup before serving as well!
Fish Noodle Soup
Serves 4
For the fried fish slices:
500g fresh snakehead fish (sliced, washed and dried with kitchen towel)
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbs cornflour
4 tbs cooking oil
For the fish soup base:
4 tbsp cooking oil
500g fresh snakehead fish bones (washed and dried with kitchen towel)
4 cloves garlic (de-skinned and cut into half)
1 pc red onion (cut into 4 pcs)
3 cm length ginger (sliced)
4 pcs spring onions (white part only)
3 pcs coriander roots (cleaned)
80g soya beans (soaked)
1.5 litre water
For the soup seasoning (adjust to taste):
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
8 tbsp full cream evaporated milk
1/4 tsp white pepper
Some ginger wine [optional]
For the garnish/ noodles:
600g fresh thick bee hoon
3 stalks of Chinese lettuce
1pc tomato (cut into 8 slices) [optional]
Some coriander leaves
2 to 3 pcs chilli padi (sliced)
1 part soya sauce : 1 part fish sauce
Marinate the fish slices with salt and keep in the fridge as you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Meanwhile, prepare the fish soup base. Begin by heating cooking oil in the pot, add fish bones to fry until slightly brown, remove and set aside. Add aromatics – garlic, onion, ginger, spring onions and coriander roots and fry till fragrant. Return fish bones into the pot and add soaked soya beans and water. Pressure cook for 1 hr under “Chicken” mode or simmer over the stove for 3 or more hours. Once the soup is ready, pour it over a sieve into another pot and discard ingredients in the sieve. Bring the soup to a boil and add all the seasoning except for ginger wine. Blanch the Chinese lettuce and thick beehoon, and set aside.
After the fish soup is ready, remove fish slices from the fridge and coat each slice with a thin layer of cornflour. Dust off any excess flour. Heat oil in the pan and fry until golden brown (10mins at 190 degrees, flipping the fish at the 5min mark).
To serve, divide the thick beehoon, chinese lettuce, tomato, coriander leaves and fish slices into 4 portions. Using a noodle ladle, dip the beehoon into soup several times before placing it into a serving bowl. Top the bowl of beehoon with fish slices, tomato, chinese lettuce and coriander leaves. Scoop the hot soup over the bowls of beehoon. Add some ginger wine and white pepper to get the extra ‘oomph. Mix the chillies with the soy sauce and fish sauce and serve with the fish noodle soup.