Chinese New Year is just another few more days away; once you hear of this, this is where all kinds of cooking comes in.

I would like to share with you my successful experimented famous dessert for Chinese New Year

Kuih Bakul

or it is also called Nian Gao 年糕 in Mandarin

Even if this looks really simple and thinking it is like some jello, it is actually not.

This requires a lot of work from start to finish. Many steps needed.

My previous post shared that my daughter and I went banan leaf hunting.

They are used as the wrappers for the kuih bakul

But you cannot just use the leaf straight away. In fact, you have to lightly cook it.

I tried the first time and boiled it a little too long and almost all the young banana leaves were destroyed.

I did not give up.

When we went home for my hypertension appointment and moving my records to the citizens clinic near my daughter's home, by God's grace we harvested enough mature banana leaves to make the wrappers again.

Then after the wrapping is done (I forgot to take pictures) the cooking starts.

Kuih Bakul is traditionally made of gluten rice, and they are a Hokkien (clan) delicacy.

My daughter would be great at telling the story of how it was made. I couldn't remember it well.

With the refined glutinous flour, it is associated with sugar.

I have tried a few combinations and I recently found the best combination is brown sugar, Gula Melaka (coconut flowers sugar) and added with pandan for fragrance.

But you got to see how much sugar is needed for taste. It is (flour) 1:0.5 sugar ratio.

But I decided to use more Gula Melaka for lesser sweetness.

In the end I was very happy. Thanks to @gtpjfoodbank volunteers team's support they sponsored the ingredient costs for me to experiment and test them.

My daughter's boss was supportive too.

Overall I am very pleased with the outcome.

Kuih Bakul is best eaten with shredded coconut with Himalayan pink salt. White table salt is a bit strong while the pink salt brings out the sweetness of the coconut with its mineral goodness.

(my daughter explained, we tried, we loved it)

It can also be kept long term if you want to slice it. Dry them up and place in the fridge; later just steam it and mix with fresh shredded coconut and salt and you are good to enjoy.

Remember to have it with unsweetened Chinese tea / green tea 🍵 . They can be very sweet and hard to digest.

Hope you like my sharing for today.

Best wishes,
Rene

Daily Activity, House Chores, Walking