Steamed Pandan Custard Glutinous Rice Cake

I love #kuih selat or #seri muka with a creamy custard layer 😋😋

It took me several attempts to achieve this steamed glutinous rice cake with a creamy pandan custard top layer. Although the custard was creamy, it was not too rich as I used only a small amount of coconut cream mixed with low-fat milk. 

These are what I have learned after those past attempts;

🔅Glutinuos rice - use only fresh glutinous rice. Aged glutinous rice, 2 years and above, have difficulty in absorbing water regardless of long hours of soaking.

🔅Pandan leaves - use fresh pandan leaves whenever possible. Pandan powder could not do a good substitution for that unique flavour.

🔅Coconut milk - coconut milk maybe rich, but without it the cake would not smell and taste good. A mixture of coconut cream and low-fat milk help to retain the flavour yet not too rich.

🔅Custard layer - for the custard layer to remain creamy, stop cooking when the custard mixture reaches 70 to 75℃. This is a trick I learned from one of the recipe I came across.

Video for the preparation of the recipe:

Watch in YouTube for a bigger screen 📹

This is a small recipe suitable for about 4 persons.

Yield: one 14x10x3 cm cake
Pan size: rectangle glass bowl 14x10x5cm, tapered side, heat-resistant.

Ingredients

Glutinous Rice Layer
100g glutinous rice
low-sodium salt, taste to gauge the amount.
25g low-fat milk/coconut milk

Add water to submerge the glutinous rice

Add about 1/4 tsp coconut oil
1 blade pandan leaf

About 10 dried blue pea flowers, soak in 

About 30g of warm water for about 30 minutes

Pandan Custard Layer
65g coconut cream

55g low-fat milk
10g fine sugar

20g raw sugar/fine sugar

10g rice flour
1g corn starch

1/2 tsp pandan powder, optional, for enhancing the green

15g pandan paste*

5g coconut oil

1 egg, about 55g

Pinch of low-sodium salt

* Video of blending 20g pandan leaves with 50g water, and collect 15g of it without straining.

Directions

1. Rinse and soak glutinous rice in warm water for about 1.5 to 4 hours.

Picture for demonstration

2. Rinse dried blue pea flowers briefly, and soak in about 30g warm water for about 30 minutes. When the water turns blue, squeezed dry the flowers and discard them. Keep the blue pea water aside.

3. Scoop about 1 tbsp of soaked glutinous rice to a small bowl. Add blue pea flower water, a little low-sodium salt, and a little coconut oil to the glutinuous rice. Mix well and transfer to a small cup.  Top up water to the small cup of glutinuous rice till reaching about 5mm above the rice. Keep aside for steaming later.

4. Drain away the water and add 25g low-fat milk, low-sodium salt, about 1/4 tsp coconut oil to the remaining soaked glutinous rice. Mix well, and top up water to the bowl of glutinuous rice till reaching about 5mm above the rice.

5. Pour about 150 to 200g of water to the inner pot of a mini rice cooker.

Place pandan leaves over the prepared glutinous rice.

Stand the cup and bowl of glutinous rice over a steamer rack in the mini rice cooker.

Start the cooking process for about 20 minutes. Stop cooking and let the glutinous rice simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes in the rice cooker to dry up the rice. The cooking time was about 20 to 25 minutes, or till the rice is cooked.

6. Let the blue and white cooked glutinous rice cool down slightly. 

Lightly oil a 14x10x5cm glass pan or metal pan. Line a sheet of parchment paper before adding the two colour glutinous rice in alternate sequence. Press the cool glutinous rice into the base of the pan. Use the back of a spoon or spatula to compact the rice layer. Line a sheet of food wrap between the rice and the spoon would prevent the rice from sticking to the spoon.

Photo for demonstration only.

3. Combine all the ingredients under the Pandan Custard Layer together in a bowl.

Pour the mixture to a pot and stir over low heat, till the custard reaching 70 to 75℃ or start to thicken.

Picture for demonstration only.

Pour the thickened custard over the glutinous rice layer. 

Cover the opening of the glass bowl with heat-resistant cling warp. Poke about 10 small pin-sized holes to the cling wrap.

Picture for demonstration only.

4. Pour enough water into the inner pot of a rice cooker to last for a 20-minute steaming. Stand the glass pan over a steamer rack.

Picture for demonstration only.

Select "Steam" function and set the "Cooking Time" to 20 minutes. And start the program.

After the "Steam" program has completed, switch the heating mode to "Keep Warm" let the cake simmer for about 10 minutes in the rice cooker. Turn off the heating and let the cake simmer for about 5 minutes, or till the pandan custard has solidified.

5. Transfer the steamed cake out of the rice cooker to cool down over a wire rack.

Lift out the cake to cool further after about 15 minutes.

6. Cut the steamed cake using a plastic cake knife after the steamed cake has completely cool down to room temperature.

Enjoy 😋

Air Fryer Turmeric Garlic Batang Fish Fillet

In my memory, I have never try pan-frying fish fillet in my kitchen as I have no confidence in doing a nice job, and I hate to clean up the kitchen after cooking it 😓

However, after learning that air fryer can also cook fish, I decided to give this tough job a try last week. It was surprisingly simple and fast. And most important of all, the fish fillet was tender and moist 😋

Video of the end product 🐠

Ingredients

260g Batang fish fillet with skin on

Marinade 1 (Brining)

1/2 tsp salt, to rub the fish fillet 

1 small clove garlic, chopped

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black peppercorn

1/2 tsp soy sauce concentrate, Japanese Tsuyu

1/2 tsp dark brown sugar 

50g low-fat milk
water to submerge the fish fillet 

Marinade 2

5g low-salt fish sauce
5g freshly grated garlic 
3g turmeric powder
1/4 tsp pepper powder 
2g coriander powder
1/4 tsp paprika powder 
3g corn flour/starch
4g dark brown sugar
5g grapeseed oil

Directions

1. Rinse the fish fillet.

Slice out the bone strip from the fillet but keeping the skin intact. This step is optional. It only helps to serve a boneless fillet later.

2. Rub about 1/2 tsp of salt, from Marinade 1, all over the fish fillet.

3.  Mix the remaining ingredients under Marinade 1 in a big mixing bowl big enough to hold the fish fillet.

4. Coat the fish fillet with the Marinade 1.

Add water to the marinade to submerge the fish fillet. Let the fish fillet marinate for about 30 minutes.

5. While the fish fillet is marinating, combine the ingredients under Marinade 2 into a smooth paste.

6. Drain away the marinade 1, and pat dry the fish fillet using paper kitchen towel.

6. Apply and smear Marinade B all over the fish fillet including the cleaves. Let the fish fillet marinate for about 30 minutes.

7. Line a small roasting pan with parchment paper, and spread about 1 tbsp of grapeseed oil over the parchment paper.

Start the "Fish" function of the air fryer, at 195℃. I let the air fryer preheat for about 2 minutes.

8. The entire cooking process will take about 10 minutes at 195℃.

First cook the fish fillet with the skin facing down for about 5 minutes.

Take out the fish fillet, and flip it using a broad spatula.

Let the fish skin face up,

return to the air fryer, and continue to cook for about 3 minutes.

Take out from the air fryer,

flip the fish fillet again, to let the skin face down. Do it slowly in order not to break the extremely tender and fragile fish fillet.

Return the fish fillet to the air fryer and continue to cook till the timer is up, about 2 minutes.

To test the doneness of the fish fillet, insert a thin cake tester to the thickest part of the fish fillet. If clear juice flows out after the cake tester was withdrawn, the fish fillet is cooked through.

Do not let the fish fillet sits in the air fryer after cooking to prevent over-cooking the meat.

9. Squeeze some green lime juice over the fish fillet before serving. Enjoy 😋