Sweet Potato Ang Ku Kuih — Whip It UP!

A:  Filling

200g mung beans, washed and soaked 2 hours
80g castor sugar
2 pandan (screwpine) leaves, cut into 2 inches length
100ml water
3 tablespoons shallot oil (deep-fry 2 sliced shallots, use oil)

B:  Sweet Potato Dough

300g purple/yellow sweet potato*, peeled and cut into cubes
250g glutinous rice flour
1 tablespoon rice flour
3 tablespoon corn oil
100-150ml hot water

C: Banana Leaf Lining

1 banana leaf, cut into 9cm X 9cm squares, 40 pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mung Bean Filling: Bring 1 litre of water in a wok or large saucepan to a rolling boil over medium heat. Steam mung beans with pandan leaves until soft, about 40 minutes.

2. In a food processor, blend beans with 100ml water, sugar and shallot oil to a fine texture – this bean paste is the filling. Set it aside in a mixing bowl.

3. Pour bean paste into a non-stick pan. Fry using medium heat till it thickens and becomes gooey. Allow mixture to cool down.

4. Shape mung bean paste into 18g balls. Set them aside. Keep covered with a kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out.

5. Sweet Potato Dough: Bring 1 litre of water to a rolling boil over medium heat. Steam sweet potato until soft. Mash while hot.

6. In a medium mixing bowl, combine both flours and oil (Ingredients B). Add mashed sweet potato to flour mixture. Mix until incorporated.

7. Pour hot water bit by bit into above mixture. Hot water renders a resilient dough that doesn’t break easily. Mix until a soft, pliable dough is formed. Different sweet potato cultivars have different textures. Some have a higher water content than others, hence it may not be necessary to use up all the water – discard the rest, if any.

8. Shape dough into 32g balls. While shaping dough balls, they may get dry. If this happens, wet hands before continuing to shape kuih. Cover with a tea towel.

9. Line steamer with banana leaf cut to size of tray circumference. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush banana leaves with a thin film of vegetable oil.

10. A good ang ku kuih  has a 2:1 dough-to-filling ratio. For this recipe, choose a 50g mould, which needs 32g dough with 18g filling.

11. Lightly dust inside of ang ku kuih mould with glutinous rice flour.

12. Flatten sweet potato dough using your fingers. Place one mung bean ball in the centre of dough. Wrap excess dough entirely around filling, to seal dough. Roll it between your palms until a round ball forms.

13. Place each ball into the mould. Press downwards gently and evenly. To dislodge kuih, holding the handle, knock the left side of the mould once. Then knock it on its right side. Repeat, if needed, until kuih pops out.

14. Place each kuih on an oiled piece of banana leaf. Repeat until dough and filling are used up.

15. Bring 2 litres of water to a rolling boil in a wok over high heat. Lower heat to medium. Cook kuih in a bamboo steamer for 10 minutes.

16. Remove from heat. Using a pastry brush, immediately brush kuih with some vegetable oil to give the skin a sheen.

17. Set kuih on kitchen counter to cool down, around 30-40 minutes. If desired, replace banana leaf lining with a new piece – the bright green banana leaf enhances the kuih’s visual appeal.

TIP:  Substitute sweet potato with pumpkin if desired. Follow the same steps in making the dough.

TECHNIQUE:  Steam kuih over medium heat – a gentler heat helps to set mould design well. If heat is too high, dough flattens during the cooking process before it starts to set.

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