This is a blog post on making Malaysian Sri Muka kuih recipe. Sri muka is quite a popular recipe that most Malaysian love. It goes well with a nice cup of tea during tea time. it is available in most we call it kuih stalls as street food and something to take home to eat as dessert. Kuih basically means cake in Malay but it is different from the English version of the cake. Most kuih are coconut-based as it is commonly seen and grown in Malaysia. Butter is not common at all in Malaysian desserts as butter never originates from there.
Malaysian Sri Muka Kuih
Sri muka in translation simply means beautiful face. this kuih is also known kueh salat. Some just called this kuih as Malaysian steam glutinous custard cake. Glutinous rice is used as when it is used in cooking it helps to bind together as it is sticky. When it is cook it becomes a ‘cake form’. this method is achieved with steaming rather than baking. Therefore a steamer is required. If the is none available, just use a bowl and turn it upside and stick it in the largest pot enough to fit the tray containing a Victoria sandwich tin (about 20cm diameter). I have also used a stainless steel steamer as well as ramekin pots. Using clear ramekin pots or pans allows one to look at how much custard and rice ratio. If there is no other pans available just cook the Sri muka in batches.
Success of Sri Muka
The secret in making it a success to have a nice thick layer of custard on top of the glutinous rice. As the pandan custard gives the flavor and aroma to this dessert. Like in many South East Asian desserts the purpose of glutinous rice is to counteract the sweetness of the filling. This seen also in kuih ketayap (Malaysian coconut pancake).
This recipe is adapted from many I found but I am trying to even further reduce the amount of calories. Coconut milk has a nice flavour but it is also quite high in saturated fat. Therefore I am using Alpro no sugar coconut drink. It can be bought here online and it contains only 14 kcal/ 100mls serving. If there is none available just use low-fat coconut milk. Some recipes I found uses a whooping 600 mls of coconut milk??!!! wow!!
However, I must by using Alpro coconut drink not give the intense coconut taste. I also reduce the amount of sugar as well as personally, I don’t really like it too sweet plus it also adds more calories.
The custard base is like most custard but this is using coconut milk instead of milk to give it a nice aroma. Pandan (also known as vanilla grass) juice is also added for nice flavour and smell.
Malaysian Sri muka
This is a recipe on how to make Malaysian Sri Muka. it is basically a glutinous rice and pandan coconut egg custard on top pudding.
- Steamer big enough to fit baking tin
- Baking tin like victoria sponge tin
- sieve to get rid of lumps in custard
Rice base
- 200 grams Glutinous rice
- 300 mls Alpro coconut (alternatively use low-fat coconut milk)
- pinch of salt
Coconut egg custard
- 100 mls Alpro coconut
- 3 medium eggs
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 3 tbsp plan flour
- 120 grams caster sugar
- 100 mls pandan juice from 6 long pandan leaves
Steam the glutinous rice
First of all steam the rice. No need to soak the rice as I use low heat to slowly steam the rice while I prepare the custard. Some recipes do soak the rice but I don't. Let it steam till the rice starts to cook a bit like cooking rice. The grains will start to become starch. This process will take around about 30 minutes low heat on double hob rings
Making the custard
Mix all the coconut egg custard ingredients together. It will be lumpy at first I get rid of the lumps by using a sieve. Then all the custard on top of the steamed glutinous rice. Steam till the custard sets. This will take around 20 minutes depending on the heat. Let it cool cut out and serve.
