It all started one year ago around this time, the Asian supermarket near my house was having radishes on sales at 10 cents per lb, I had to bring some back and made a batch of Chai Poh/Preserved Radish.
The Chai Poh turned out really well, so earlier in July this year, when the price of radishes in the local market is low again, I made yet another batch of Chai Poh. This time I have better understanding of the timing and the Chai Poh turned out even better than the last batch.
The Chai Poh turned out really well, so earlier in July this year, when the price of radishes in the local market is low again, I made yet another batch of Chai Poh. This time I have better understanding of the timing and the Chai Poh turned out even better than the last batch.
Since I have so many homemade Chai Poh sitting in my pantry now, I can't help but to keep thinking of ways to use them. This Chwee Kueh made it to the top of my list, Chwee Kueh is a snack close to many Malaysian/Singaporean's hearts, a breakfast or teatime choice for many when we were home.
A good Chwee Kueh is full of fragrance of rice, it melts in your mouth with the bits and pieces of Chai Poh toppings giving it the crunchiness and flavors that it needs. The duo compliment each other and their unique taste are there to stay in my memories.
There are a few recipes of Chwee Kueh online, I have tried one of them, and it turned out okay, but in my opinion, does make the real Chwee Kueh. The original Chwee Kueh is made only with ground rice and water, when steamed at high heat, the kueh will form a natural dent in the middle which make a perfect shape to fill and hold the toppings.
Since I wanted nothing but the original taste of Chwee Kueh, I took it to heart to experiment and make the kueh from scratch! I read all the information I could find on the making of this kueh and experimented 5 times before I could come to this recipe of mine.
If you like Chwee Kueh, here is my recipe to share!
事情的起因是这样的，一年前因为超市里的萝卜又大又便宜所以我就买了十磅回家做了一批日晒菜脯/萝卜干 。 因为自己晒的菜脯太香了，今年萝卜盛产的时候我又制作了第二批。既然有了上好的菜脯，我当然就忍不住开始计划各种菜脯美食了。
这个水粿是菜脯煎蛋之后我第二个想到的美食。水粿是一种潮汕小吃，是一款米浆蒸制的糕点，米糕本身味淡，所以吃的是纯粹的米香。因此铺在上头的菜脯碎非常关键，菜脯的咸香爽脆和润滑柔软的米糕相辅相成，是一款非常细致而又古朴的美味。
这个水粿是菜脯煎蛋之后我第二个想到的美食。水粿是一种潮汕小吃，是一款米浆蒸制的糕点，米糕本身味淡，所以吃的是纯粹的米香。因此铺在上头的菜脯碎非常关键，菜脯的咸香爽脆和润滑柔软的米糕相辅相成，是一款非常细致而又古朴的美味。
潮汕人比较纯粹，做的水粿其实只有米和水按一定的比例磨成米浆蒸制而成，成品洁白如玉，入口即化。这款看似简单的小食在制作上却非常不简单，为了做出有古早味的水粿，我一共尝试了五种不同的米水比例才找到了我喜欢的口感。 非常喜欢成品的纯粹和简朴，喜欢水粿的朋友也希望你能尝试做做看哦！
Ingredients: (makes about 15 Chwee Kueh)
For Chwee Kueh:
100 g of long grain rice, aged if possible (I used aged Basmati)
Approximately 250-280 ml of water
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp of Wheat starch (only if you like your Chwee Kueh more bouncy.)
For toppings:
100 g of Chai Poh
10 g of Dried Shrimp Optional
1 tsp of Minced garlic
1 tsp of Soy Sauce (adjust according to the saltiness of Chai Poh)
2 tsp of Sugar
A little dark Soy Sauce
3 tbsp of water
材料: （可做大约15个水粿）
水粿:
100 克 的籼米，陈米更好 （我用了印度的Basmati香米）
250-280克 食用水
一小撮 食盐
1 大勺 澄粉 (如果你比较喜欢Q弹口味就加，传统的水粿是不加的）
菜脯馅料:
100 克 菜脯/萝卜干
10 克 虾米/虾干
1 小勺 蒜蓉
1 小勺 酱油/生抽 （可按菜脯的咸淡调整）
2 小勺 糖
一点 老抽/黑酱油 上色用
3 大勺 食用水
1. Clean and mince the preserved radish/Chai poh, soak in warm water if you prefer less saltiness, you can find ready minced chai poh from the shop, which saved you this step in the cooking.
2. Soak dried shrimps in hot water for 5 minutes, minced and keep aside. Mince 2 cloves of garlic and keep aside.
3. Heat up about 2-3 tbsp of oil in a cooking pan/wok, add the minced dried shrimp and cook at medium heat for about 30 seconds, add the minced garlic, stir until fragrant, add the minced Chai Poh, continue cooking until the Chai Poh is fragrant and is a little crunchy to look at.
4. Add all the seasoning and water, bring to boil and cook at medium heat for about 3-5 minutes. Take it out in a bowl and let cool.
1. 把菜脯洗净切碎，如果你口味比较淡，可以把菜脯切碎后泡温水几分钟沥干备用。如果用的是市售的菜脯碎，可以直接清水洗净沥干备用。
2. 把虾米用热水泡几分钟后取出切碎备用，两瓣蒜切碎备用。
3. 锅里热上2-3大勺的食油，先下虾米碎炒香后加入蒜米，翻炒几秒后加入菜脯碎煸炒至香气溢出。
4. 加入所有调味料和三大勺水，煮3-5分钟后熄火盛出备用。
5. Wash and soak the long grain rice overnight, if you like the Chwee kueh a little crunchier, soak the rice for 2 days, change the water 2-3 times in between.
6. Drain the rice and weigh it again the next day, the Basmati rice I used took in about 40% of water, thus it was 140 g when I weigh it. The ratio of rice and water to make Chwee Kueh is around 1: 2.5-2.8. We will need about 260-280 g of water for the recipe. Since the rice soaked up 40 g of water already, we now need about 220 g of water for blending.
7. Place the rice and 220 g of water with a pinch of salt and wheat starch (if you are using) in a blender, blend until smooth, let the mixture rest for 10 minutes, you will now see that the water and rice is separated, this is a good time to check if the water, rice ratio is right, the level of clear water and rice should be about 1: 2.5, if the clear water part is too less/thin, add some water, if it is too thick, take some water out.
8. Run the blender again until smooth, and let the mixture rest for another 10 minutes. Meanwhile, set a steamer on the stove and heat the molds in the steamer for 5 minutes, this is a very important step to ease de-molding when the cake is done. You can use small bowls, Chinese tea cups to make this Chwee Kueh, since I am steaming the Kueh in my steamer oven, I used my son's mini muffin tin, which was perfect.
9. Once the molds are heated, run the blender again until smooth, fill each mold with rice mixture to about 70% full, steam the rice cake at high heat for 15 minutes. Take the cake out immediately when it is done and let cool. Once cooled the cake will have a small dent in the middle that resemble a small bowl.
10. Add a little Chai Poh topping on each Chwee Kueh and serve with some chili sauce.
5. 把籼米淘洗干净后泡水一个晚上，如果你有时间而且喜欢口感比较爽的米糕，可以把白米泡水两天，间中换水两三次。
6. 第二天把米沥干水份后称一下。我家的籼米吸水率为40%， 所以泡水沥干后的米粒是140克左右。水粿米和水的最佳比例为1: 2.5-2.8 左右，所以水的用量在250-280克即可，因为米在泡的过程中已经吸取了40克的水份，所以减去这个部分后取220克左右的水和米粒一起倒入搅拌机内加一点点的食盐搅拌顺滑，如果你加澄粉的话，也这个时候一起加入搅拌。食盐一点点就好，它主要功能是提升米的香气。
7. 搅拌好的米浆不要马上用，静置10分钟至水粉分离，这个时候沉淀下来的米浆和上面透明的水的比例应该是 2.5:1 左右，如果水的部分少了，可以酌量加一点水，如果水的部分多了，可以倒掉一点。
8. 再次启动搅拌机搅拌米浆至顺滑，然后静置10分钟。这个时候可以准备蒸笼和小碗。传统的水糕是用潮州功夫茶的茶碗蒸的，所以水糕的形状不大。我家没有那么多小茶碗，所以用了迷你麦芬蛋糕的模具蒸。 先把模具/茶碗入蒸笼大火蒸5分钟，这个步骤不能省却，这是水粿蒸好后容易脱模的关键。
9. 再次启动搅拌机把米浆搅拌顺滑，取出蒸好的模具，把米浆倒入至7分满，入蒸笼大火蒸15分钟。出锅冷却后的水粿自然呈碗装，用牙签或者小刀子沾水划边脱模，铺上菜脯馅料和一点辣椒酱即可上桌。
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