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Saturday, December 03, 2005

Serimuka

Serimuka aka Kuih Sarlat has been one of the favorites of the nyonya kuihs. The egg custard layer will be green if pandan flavor is desired, otherwise it can be of a golden egg custard. There is a requisite for nyonya kuih, the height, the color, the sweetness and richness will all determine a good kuih. For Serimuka the rice layer has to be slightly higher and a tinge of saltiness to bring out the coconut flavor. The top layer has to be sweet enough and of a jade color.


Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Ingredients:

Rice Layer

300g glutinous rice, wash and soak in water for 4 hours, drain
180ml coconut milk
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar

Egg Custard Layer

3 large eggs
4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp rice flour
350ml coconut milk
150g castor sugar
1/2 tsp pandan paste
1/4 tsp salt
Green coloring

Method:

1. Drain rice and steam on 22cm tray for 20 minutes.

2. Remove from heat, fluff up the rice and pour in the coconut milk, sugar and salt. Mix well. Steam for another 20-25 minutes or till cooked.

3. Using a spoon or spatula,press cooked glutinous rice firmly and use another tray to level pressed rice.

4. Sieve the 2 flours mixture and add them to lightly beaten eggs. Strain mixture. Add coconut milk, pandan paste, green color,salt and sugar.

5 . Cook on high in the microwave, 1 min at a time until mixture is slightly thicken.

6. Pour 1/2 of this egg custard over the steamed glutinous rice and steam for 10 - 15 minutes until cooked. Use a fork and scatch surface, then pour in the balance of the custard, steam further another 10 - 15 minutes until cooked. (steaming time varies depending on the heat of steamer)

7. Cut kueh into serving slices when cooled.

Serves

35 comments:

  1. Oh by the way, on step 6, after we pour in the last half of the egg custard, how long do we steam it for?

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  2. ching

    guessed my step 6 is not very clear, i shall edit.

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  3. Gong Hei Fatt Choy Lily,
    I am originally from Sarawak.
    I discovered your blog not long ago and I have made this Serimuka twice in the last 4 days with 5 pieces of "precious"pandan leaves! It won me many new fans here in Vancouver BC, mostly from Singapore and Malaysia. It was really authentic and just the way I like them. I did not add colour to it so it does not looked like the "real" thing. Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
    God bless

    Daniel Tay

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  4. Hello Lily, I like your blog very much. Thank you for sharing with us and keep up the good work! =)

    I tried to make Seri Muka a few times but the surface of my serimuka is not even (sometime with some small holes) eventhough I used small fire.

    Can you give me some advice?

    Thank you in advanced.

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  5. tsg

    small holes? like tiny bubbles?
    it could be you have whisked the eggs too much. just beat the eggs and straining/sieving the mixture will ensure a better topping.

    small fire/low heat is good, big fire/high heat will create valleys and hills on the topping.

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  6. Hi Lily,

    I'm wondering where can I find Pandan Paste. I an in Virginia, US. I went back to Malaysia but only manage to find pandan essence/flavoring much like vanilla essence. I have seen at Vietnamese shops pandan 'juice' in a can. I have bought one but I haven't tried using it. I'm sure it's much watery than the paste. Please help. Thanks.

    Candy

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  7. candy

    if you were in malaysia, you should have gone to the cake supply store and ask for pandan paste there are all sorts of pastes available there

    i too have bought a can of pandan juice before and it is so watery. Perhaps the frozen fresh leaves would be a better choice

    Look in the indonesian aisle of the asian supermarket and you might get them

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  8. Hi Lily,
    I am in U.S. now, I am just wondering how can I make the pandan paste by using the frozen pandan leaves?
    Jia

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  9. jia

    the pandan paste is chemically formulated and i have no idea how to make the pandan juice into a paste

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  10. hi Lily,

    FOr the egg custard layer, if choose not to use Microwave, can it be cooked in a saucepan under fire till mixture thickens up?

    In Step 6, after steaming the 1/2 egg custard for 10-15mins, what is the reason you use a fork to scratch the surface?, also how will you know if it's cooked? Will it appear FIRM?

    THanks.

    From LovetoBake.

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  11. lovetobake

    by all means, use the stovetop to cook the custard.

    the new layer will adhere to the bottom layer if it has been scratched

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  12. Hi Lily,
    One question, why is the surface of my custard is not smooth? Is it because the fire is too strong? How can I avoid this from happening? Please advice. Thank you.

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  13. skychio

    you don't need my advice. you have answered the question yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Lily,

    I made this kueh yesterday, it was very yummy. The taste and texture are so good, something that my husband and I missed so much, even my daughters loved them.

    I have a few questions:
    a) I found the color was too green, I followed the recipe to the tee. Just wondering if the pandan paste should be 1 teaspoon instead of 1 tablespoon.

    b) Why did you add the green coloring, when you are using the pandan paste? And how much did you use for the green coloring?

    c) I used a 8-inch square pan and the top layer was not as high as yours in the picture. What did I do wrong?

    d) Can I not cooked the custard, and pour it straight to the rice to steam? I used the stove top to cook the custard layer, and the bottom seemed to be lumpy.

    Thank you for your advice. AND Thank you for all these wonderful recipes.

    ReplyDelete
  15. theleegirls

    i must apologise that there is a typo in the pandan paste. it should be 1/2 tsp and not 1 tbsp. i will edit it and i am very sorry for the error.

    i used a little green cos the green in the pandan paste is not the color i like. the color of green differs from one brand to another.

    you could steam all the custard at one time but it would have to be cooked very much longer and on low medium heat otherwise the custard will have valleys and hills.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Lily

    I would like to try this, but I cannot get rice flour here. Can I substitute with other flours?

    thanks
    michelle

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  17. michelle

    you can try replacing the rice flour with cornflour

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  18. Thanks, Lily!

    -michelle

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  19. Hello Aunty Lily,

    Your blog is a life saver. i am originally from Singapore and now live in Wisconsin,USA. It is so bloody hard to get all the food that I grew up with in Malaysia and Singapore. Thanks to your blog, I can replicate the recipes at the convenience of my home. :) 4 years in the states and I still miss my home food.:)

    Thank you again Aunty Lily.:)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi Lily,

    Thanks for the recipe ;-) I tried this today and it turned out great, love the flavour. But .. a question, i am not sure what i did wrong, the surface of the serimuka turned out a bit lumpy.. why leh ? I have posted this in my blog, u can have a look, it wasn't as smooth as urs.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  21. jin hooi

    the heat was too high when you were steaming the top layer.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi Lily,
    My friend is allergic to flour - can we substitute the flour with something else for the egg custard layer?
    Thank you.
    -Cheng

    ReplyDelete
  23. cheng

    you could try this topping recipe

    90g rice flour, 90g corn flour

    120g caster sugar, 1/4 tsp salt

    200ml thick coconut milk, *300ml pandan juice

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thanks Lily.Cheng

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hi lily,

    Thanks for the recipe. I love to make different types of kuihs and this is so good. however, one qn... should the custard be firm like kuihs or a little soft. I have steamed mine over 40 mins and it seems to be still very soft.. is that normal?

    SAHM in France...

    ReplyDelete
  26. sahm in france

    it is soft but firm. it should not take this long for the custard to set, perhaps your heat is too low.

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  27. Hi Lily,

    Thanks for your reply, I guess the heat was too low but it still taste good. Another qn - how do I store the leftover which I usually don't have but if there're, can it be kept in the fridge, how long can it last. Thanks again.

    SAHM in France

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  28. Hi Lily,

    I tried out your recipe for Serimuka & it turned out well. The family almost finished up the entire lot.

    How do I keep the unfinished kuih for the next day without it drying out?

    Thanks for sharing your various receipes.
    Are you a peranakan/nonya by any chance.

    Cheers,

    C Tan

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  29. c tan

    you can leave the serimuka in the fridge in an airtight container and heat it bake in the microwave

    ReplyDelete
  30. Lily,

    I tried this recipe today! It was delicious and very easy to make! Thank you for sharing this recipe! My custard though took a little longer to firm up. I guess the heat may have been a little too low. Half is already gone. I will serve some at my thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

    June

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  31. Hi Lily,

    I tried your recipe today and it turned out beautiful. I added all the thickened custard at one go and steamed in on very low heat. Thanks for sharing.

    Sally
    Brisbane

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  32. Hi Lily,

    Am in NYC, originally from Singapore. Am very lucky I can find most of the ingredients for kuih kuih making.

    I have a question about the flour you used in the Serimuka recipe. What kind of flour is it? Just regular All-pupose flour? Multi-purpose flour? Cake flour?

    Can I substitute it with tapioca flour? If so what proportions to the Rice flour?

    Thanks very much. I'm very happy that blogs like yours are available for us South East Asians living in the Western Hemisphere. I once made Kuih Bakar from your recipe and it was a great hit.

    Would so appreciate your advice regarding the flours. Am hoping to make it tomorrow. Soaking the glutinous rice now! Thanks again!

    Clara

    ReplyDelete
  33. clara

    yes, it is all-purpose flour, bleached or unbleached.

    if rice flour is not available then you can sub with tapioca flour but the texture will be more spongy. Rice flour is readily available in all the asian stores, use it rather than substituting it.

    i am sorry for the late reply

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  34. Thanks for the great recipe especially the microwaving part. Saves so much time. Thumbs up!!

    ReplyDelete