Learn The Art of Making Traditional Asian Desserts - Malay Kuih

Firstly allow me to clear the misconception of Asianscarce. Besides sweets, there are also savoury
definition when it comes to food. If there is such a thingversion which is often eaten or served during tea time.
as American cheesecake or British bread pudding, orToday kuihs are such popular desserts in Southeast
Australian Carrot Cake, there is indeed no such thingAsia mainly inSingapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and
as Asian Dessert anything. There are however aThailand. Yet very few people know the secrets of
multitude of desserts across different ethnic groups inmaking kuihs as many recipe books are written in
Asia.English. Some recipes are available on the internet. I
So you can imagine how rich the Asian food culture is,know of many Western friends or those living in the
if you collectively identify them as Chinese, Malay,west, who would regularly request for translated
Japanese, Indian, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese,version from me. In this part of the world, it is quite
Indonesian, Arabic, Philippines etc. Each culture carrieseasy to find these desserts from the wet market to
with it a totally different tradition and heritage and this ishotels and restaurants. Many of the recipes have been
reflected in their desserts as well.simplified and subsitutes are introduced for eg
One particular "Asian" dessert that is little knownfullcream milk is used instead of coconut milk.
amongst Westerners are the traditional Malay kuihs.Many locals make their living from selling these kuihs as
These are delightful chewy and rich desserts that arethere are more people willing to eat than to learn the
made from natural ingredients like tapioca flour, sweetart of making these traditional and delicious desserts.
potato flour, bananas, palm sugar, coconut milk,The Malays knew the secrets to make these kuihs
glutinous rice etc. There are more than 100 differentdifferently from other desserts through the use of
types of Malay kuihs and these recipes emerged andbanana and pandan leaves for fragrance and colour,
came from the Indonesian and Malay villages. I grewthrough use of combined flour to give contrasting
up with these kuihs and used to watch mytastes and use of palm sugar melted like cheese to
grandmother lovingly prepared her goodies over theheighten the eating sensation.
stove and delighted in feeding us those delectables.If you love baking and cooking, you will enjoy learning
She too learned the skill from her homeland inthe art of making this "Asian" dessert which belongs to
Sumatera Indonesia before she migrated to Singapore.the Malay or Indonesian ethnic group. While Asians are
In those days, the womenfolk discovered resourcefulfamiliar with western desserts, and enjoying a
ways to make their desserts and snacks from naturalwonderful choice of desserts, the westerners are yet
ingredients or whatever they grew in their garden andto discover a whole new world of desserts which can
grew on trees. These kuihs were steamed mostly,be quickly learned and easily made. Not to mention, to
sometimes grilled - baking was nonexistent becauseimpress the entire neighbourhood!
they not only did not have any oven, electricity was