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 😋

Steamed Sweet Rice Cake

A simple steamed rice cake that is easy to make, just need to wait ... You would enjoy the nice alcohol aroma at the end of the 3-hour proofing. I used a small glass container to steam the rice cake which made it split in the middle due to thickness. Maybe I would use a smaller container to give a thinner cake next time 😉

Raw cane sugar was used instead of the usual fine white sugar, to I named it as 黄糖糕 instead of its common name 白糖糕 😉

Ingredients

{A}

65g rice flour

5g tapioca starch/rice flour

60g water

{B}

100g water

45g raw cane sugar/fine sugar

1~2 blades pandan leaf

{C}

1/4 tsp instant dry yeast

1 tsp water, 5g

{D}

1/2 tsp rice bran oil/mild flavour vegetable oil

Directions

1. Mix ingredient {A} together into a smooth paste. Set it aside.

2. Heat ingredient {B} in a heat-resistant bowl till it boils.

3. Pour the hot ingredient {B} to mix with ingredient {A} into a smooth batter. Set it aside to cool down to about 35℃. It would take about 45 to 60 minutes to cool down in room temperature.

4. While waiting for the batter to cool down, mix ingredient {C}. Just sprinkle the dry yeasts over the water and let them slowly soak up the water. The yeast water would become foamy after a while.

5. When the batter has cooled to around 35℃, mix ingredient {C} to it.

Let the batter proof for about 3 hours or till small bubbles can be seen on the surface. You would be able to smell a nice alcohol aroma.

6. Stir ingredient {D} to the batter. And start to heat up the rice cooker using "Steam' function.

7. Pour the batter to a heat-resistant glass container (14x10x5 cm) lightly coated with rice bran oil.

8. Stand the container in the steamer tray, and start the "Steam" function of a rice cooker. The cake would cook in about 15 to 20 minutes.

End of steaming 👇

9. Remove the steamed rice cake from the rice cooker, and cool over a rack.

Cut the rice cake using a plastic knife after it has completely cool down. Enjoy 😋

Steamed Pulut Hitam Kueh Salat

Using my Steamed Pandan Custard Glutinous Rice Cake recipe to prepared a black glutinous rice version. If you like the aroma of black glutinous rice, you may like this steamed cake, too 😋 The black glutinous rice grains added some crunchiness to the sticky rice layer 😉

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

Ingredients

Black Glutinous Rice Layer
70g glutinous rice

30g black glutinous rice 
2g low-sodium salt
25g low-fat coconut milk

50g soaked black glutinous rice water
1 blade pandan leaf

Pandan Custard Layer
20g pandan paste*
100g low-fat coconut milk
1 egg, about 55~58g
10g rice flour
1g corn starch
15g fine sugar

20g raw sugar/fine sugar

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

Directions

1. Line a 14x10x5cm glass bowl with parchment paper, and coat both the shorter edges with vegetable oil.

2. Rinse and soak both glutinous rice with warm water for 4 hours plus, or overnight.

3. Drain away the soaked water and collect about 50g of it for use later.

Pour coconut milk, 50g soaked mixed glutinous rice water, and salt to the soaked mixed glutinous rice in a heat resistant bowl.

Add soaked mixed glutinous rice water till all the rice has been submerged.

Place cut pandan leaf over the mixed glutinous rice.

4. Pour about 100g of water into the inner pot of a mini rice cooker.

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

Start the cooking process. When the program switches to "Keep Warm" mode, let the mixed glutinous rice simmer for about 5 minutes to dry up the rice. The cooking time was about 20 to 25 minutes, or till the rice is cooked.

Let the rice cool down to room temperature.

5. Fluff the cooked glutinous rice before adding to the prepared glass bowl in Step 1. Press the cool mixed glutinous rice into the base of the bowl. Use the back of a spatula to compact the mixed glutinous rice layer.

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

Stir over low heat in a pot,

till the custard thickens.

Pour the thickened custard over the mixed glutinous rice layer

7. Pour enough water into the inner pot of a rice cooker to last for at least 20 minutes steaming. Stand the glass bowl over a steamer rack.

Select "Steam" function and set the "Cooking Time" to 20 to 30 minutes*. And start the program.

My IH rice cooker could not set the steaming time below 30 minutes 😔

20 minutes later ...

After the "Steam" program has completed, let the cake simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes in the rice cooker, or till the pandan custard has completely solidified.

8. 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

Use an acrylic cake knife to cut the steamed cake and enjoy within the same day 😋😋