venturing into Malaysian nyonya kuehs: pulut tatal (blue glutinous rice) and pandan kaya

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I confess that I am the worst Malaysian daughter in the history of everything. Aside from curry puffs, my repertoire of Malaysian cooking is about as enormous as an ant’s butt and though I love eating traditional food, I’m just too lazy to make any. So while I’m stuck at home with my parents, I’ve been nagging them to make all kinds of nyonya treats, starting with one of my favourites:

Pulut tatal: blue glutinous rice, served with pandan kaya. YUM!

I’m pretty sure my parents would love me that tiny little bit more if I could cook Malaysian food. When I tell my dad that I Don’t Even Eat Rice Every Night, he rolls his eyes like OMG! What are you, Australian?! and I almost wish that instead, he could be proud that I could just whip up a beef rendang or a sambal kangkung in the blink of an eye. Actually, I think sambal kangkung is do-able. If I had sambal. And kangkung.

They’d be embarrassed to see what was actually in my fridge.

But anyway, I don’t really have an excuse not to learn some of these recipes and laziness is apparently not valid because honestly? These recipes aren’t even difficult. I know this because I Helped My Mum. I pressed the rice and stirred the kaya mixture so yes, “I” have kinda sorta made my very first nyonya kueh!

Tasted bloody good too.

So now I’m on a tiny bit of an obsessive roll and I think I’m going to start jotting down various and sundry Malaysian recipes to try when I get back to London. Whether I succeed in actually making anything edible is questionable but I’m going to try. Not just try to make it all but to be less of an embarrassment to my heritage.

In the mean time, I’m sharing the recipe for both the pulut tatal and pandan kaya here, so y’all can be Malaysian with me!

ps. It would be my goal to make assam laksa from scratch, just like Karen.

pps. And GOD what I’d give to be able to cook like Bee!

ppps. I can always dream.

Pulut tatal (blue glutinous rice – Malaysian nyonya kueh)
500 grams glutinous rice, washed, soaked for 4 hours and drained
350mL coconut milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon pandan essence
blue food colouring
  1. Put all ingredients (except blue colouring) into a steaming tray and steam with high heat until cooked (about 45 minutes).
  2. Remove 1/3 of the cooked glutinous rice into a mixing bowl, add a little blue colouring and mix well to get the blue glutinous rice.
  3. Add the remaining 2/3 cooked glutinous rice and mix lightly until you get the mixed white/blue look.
  4. Press the glutinous rice into a flat tray (approximately 22cm square) and press heavily until firm. Leave to cool.
  5. When ready to serve, cut into pieces and serve with kaya.
Shared dish.
Pandan kaya (Malaysian coconut spread)
180 grams sugar
84mL pandan juice (can be created with coconut milk, water, 1 drop pandan extract and 1/4 teaspoon pandan essence)
196mL thick coconut milk
4 eggs, beaten and sieved
  1. Put the sugar and pandan juice in a pot and bring to boil until dissolved.
  2. Remove from heat and pour in coconut milk and eggs.
  3. Put back on low heat and stir coconut milk mixture until smooth and slightly thick.
  4. Remove and leave to cool before refrigerating.
Note: sieve the beaten eggs, otherwise the bubbles will create a rough kaya texture. Also, kaya is delicious on plain white bread! 
Posted in: Eating In, Foodie, Recipes

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