This is.a blog post on making kuih lapis. Kuih lapis means layered Malay cake. Kuih lapis is normally seen in street food or a stall in a morning wet or night market. It is a kuih love by the young and old. As a child I remember trying to peel off the layers one by one as I eat it. As a child I also love its classic bright red colour. Made from food colouring.
Kuih Lapis
Not to confuse with Kek lapis as the two are different. Kuih lapis is made from rice and tapioca flour and coconut milk. Kek lapis is very much different as it baked and made with eggs and butter. It is a dessert dish or as an afternoon tea snack. It goes well with my types of kuih like Kuih Ketayap (Coconut roll pancake) and Baked cassava cake (Kuih Bingka). Most Malay or Nyonya (Chinese-Malay) kuihs are normally coconut base. I try to use low-fat or light coconut milk to cut down the calories. It is possible to use Alpro coconut drink but it can alter the texture and taste of the kuih. Alpro no sugar coconut drink has got very low calories even compare with light coconut milk. Therefore it only works with certain recipes. I am not sure about this recipe as I have not tried it yet
In the UK it is possible to buy kuih lapis from independent sellers or from Malaysian restaurants or food stalls. I tend to make it at home rather than going out to buy this kuih.
As this kuih uses a steamer to cook it. The option is either to use a cake tin or mold big enough to fit in a large pot or use ramekin pots. I use the latter as it cooks much quicker. As I could use a Victoria sandwich tin to cook but it’s rather shallow. The boiling water from the steamer just escapes in the kuih tin which is not ideal at all. I did use a ceramic game pie mold but it just took ages to get it to cook.
If there is no pandan leaves available just use any food coloring to create the different layers of color.
Thank you for reading and dropping by.
Steamed kuih lapis
Steamed kuih lapis a rice and tapioca flour and coconut milk based Malay kuih. Vegan and Gluten free.
- steamer
- mold to fit in steamer or 4 ramekin pots
- sieve
- 80 grams rice flour (have some extra available)
- 100 grams tapioca flour (have some extra available)
- 400 mls light coconut milk
- 75 grams sugar
- 5 large pandan leaves (alternative use food colouring)
- 50 mls water
Extract the green colour out of pandan leaves
Blend the pandan leaves with 50 mls of water till it is broken down. Squeeze out the green extract out of the blended leaves. Pas it thru a sieve.
Mix the batter
In a bowl add the rest of the ingredients together except the pandan extract or food colouring. Mix till it is well mixed. Divide the mixture into two colours or more if using more colours.
Cook the kuih lapis
Add water to the steamer and bring to a boil. Prepare the mold or ramekin pots. Add a thin layer of batter just enought to cover the bsed of the pots. Steam it will it is cook. The surface of the batter will change it's shine. Then add another layer of batter this time a different colour. Cook the same as before. Do this till the batter finishes. Do a final steam for another 10 minutes. Leave to cool before cutting out.
