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Traditional Ang Ku Kueh Recipe

Traditional Ang Ku Kueh Recipe

Ang Ku Kueh Recipe

Make homemade ang ku kueh with our ang ku kueh recipe! It is a dessert with green bean filling and sticky glutinous rice flour skin. The skin is traditionally orange or red, but they're available in different colours like green or brown. Another name is red tortoise cake because the particular mould it's shaped in resembles a tortoiseshell pattern. Moreover, because tortoise symbolizes longevity in Chinese culture, ang ku kueh is often gifted on a one-month-old baby's birthday.

Meal: Desserts
Cuisine: Chinese

Preparation time:
Cooking time:
Chill time:
Total time:
Yield: 4 servings


Ingredients

For green bean filling:

  • 300g of split green beans, soaked for 6 hours
  • 60ml of oil
  • 200g of sugar

For ang ku skin:

  • A drop of red colouring
  • 200g of wheat starch
  • 150ml of water
  • 500ml of boiling water
  • 50g of sugar
  • 500g of glutinous rice flour
  • 100g of orange sweet potato, peeled and mashed
  • 250ml of water
  • 120ml of cooking oil

To make angku:

  • 1 banana leaf, cut into rectangle pieces
  • 45ml of oil

Equipment

  • 1 steamer
  • 1 blender
  • 1 wok
  • 1 large bowl
  • 1 pastry brush
  • Ang ku kueh mould

Ang Ku Kueh Recipe

Directions

For green bean filling:

  • Steam the soaked green beans in a steamer for 30 to 40 minutes.
  • Transfer the green beans into a blender and blend until it has a paste-like consistency.
  • Heat the oil in a wok over low heat, add the green bean paste and sugar, then stir until it’s thick and no longer sticky.
  • Let it cool and shape it into 30 balls, 20g each.

For ang ku skin:

  • Combine the orange colouring, wheat starch, and water in a large bowl and mix well.
  • Carefully add boiling water while mixing until the dough is smooth and translucent.
  • Gradually add sugar, glutinous rice flour, mashed sweet potatoes, and water.
  • Knead the dough until everything is well incorporated.
  • Add the oil and continue kneading until smooth and no longer sticky.

To make ang ku kueh:

  • Using a pastry brush, lightly grease the banana leaf pieces with oil.
  • Portion the skin into 30 pieces. Flatten each one with your palm, place the green bean filling in the centre and pinch all the edges together. Then, roll it into a smooth ball.
  • Lightly dust your ang ku kueh mould with glutinous rice flour, press the ball into the mould, and gently remove it.
  • Place the shaped ang ku kueh on a greased banana leaf and repeat the process for the remaining balls.
  • Steam the shaped ang ku kueh in a steamer for 10 minutes.
  • Lastly, use the pastry brush to brush the surface with oil.

Alternative Ingredients

This ang ku kueh recipe calls for artificial colouring, but you’re free to use natural colouring. You can use pandan juice for green and beetroot juice for red. However, natural colouring won’t look as vibrant as artificial colouring. To make beetroot juice, you’d need to blend 30g of beetroot and 110ml of water in a blender, then strain it with a sieve. Meanwhile, you’d need to blend 18 pandan leaves and 118ml of water to make pandan juice. Remember to cut your pandan leaves into small strips before blending and strain the pandan juice with a sieve.


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