Hokkien Oh Kuih - The Making

Have anyone heard of Oh Kuih (黑茶果)? It's a traditional Hokkien kuih according to my mum and this has been pass down from my grandma to her. My grandma used to make this or help us to make this kuih when she was healthy. However, my mum already possess the skills and knowledge to create the same taste as hers.

The black colour texture is actually originated from a kind of leaf, which name is not known. We plant this plant outside our house last time but since we moved to Jinjang, my mum didn't plant it anymore. Fortunately my neighbour plants it and she always give us the leaves when is harvested.

The procedure of making this kuih is very tedious and requires many preparation steps. I don't have the exact recipe, stating how much water needed, and so on because the recipe was passed down orally and everything is by feeling and our own preference.

The filling of the kuih can be either sweet or salty. The sweet filling is usually grounded peanut and sesame, mixed with shredded coconut that is stir-fried with gula melaka and sugar. The salty filling is easier to prepare, which is shredded sweet choy pou (菜圃), minced chicken breast meat or any other ingredients according to own preference.

The procedure is extremely tedious, starting from the leaves, till the end of steaming. It requires days and also the skills to wrap the dough. The more skillful you are, the more fillings you can put without falling out.

This kuih is very rare to be found in the market and often you will see similar kuih sold in the market but with lighter colour and very less filling. The colour comes from the leaves and not colouring, the filling requires skill and putting too much filling will make the price of the kuih goes higher. That is the reason I never like to eat the ones sold outside and they often sell it more expensive than other kuih.

I'll briefly go through the procedures as some of you might be interested with the preparations. 

First you need to prepare the leaves forehand before anything else. The leaves must be tender, not too old or else there will be too much fibre. Leaves must be hand picked, teared down, removing all the midrib and veins, only the soft part of the leaves are needed. The leaves then need to be sun dried and it will turn dark green, near black when it is dry. The dried leaves need to be boiled, tumbuk-ed (hammered with stone made hammer), cook with oil and sugar if not mistaken. Detail procedures have to refer my mum as I'm not too familiar with it. When done, the leaves must be store in freezer and can be used anytime. To picture what is the end product of it, refer the image below.

The type of flour used to make the dough is glutinous rice flour, preferably the brand shown in the picture below. One packet is able to make about 20 kuihs. The amount in the tray shown below is the quantity of 5 packets, equivalent to 120 pieces.

<

The filling can be prepare simultaneously when preparing the flour. Dried shrimps, shredded choy pou, soaked in water, and minced chicken breast meat is used to prepare the salty filling. It is stir fried and season properly for the best taste.

<

Next will be the sweet filling preparation. Ingredient used will be gula melaka (preferable) or brown sugar as alternative, shredded coconut and sugar. The grounded peanut and sesame needed to be prepare forehand by roasting it slowly on a kuali until become fragrant, before it burns. The peanuts have skins and need to be peeled off before grounded, and should not ground into fine powder or else there will be noting to eat.

Next will be the shredded coconut and gula melaka. All the ingredients need to be cooked with low heat until the shredded coconut absorbs all the sugar and gula melaka into brown in colour. The sweetness is personal perference.

The glutinous rice flour is added with water and mix slowly with hand until well mixed. Add in some oil if required, mix until not sticky and then add in the leaves and continue mixing. This process is very labour extensive and uses more energy than you think if the amount is a lot. The end product will look some where like the image below.

Banana leaves are used as the base of the kuih and need to be washed and cut into proper shape.

The ingredients prepared for the sweet filling can be mixed according to your own preference and more sugar is added if not sweet enough.

OK, everything is prepared and ready for the filling process. The leaf dough is measured and rolled into small spherical shape before adding in the fillings. The filling adding process requires experience and skilled personal, which is my mum. A good kuih should have thin dough and thick filling and should not burst out when compressed.

A plastic mold is used to pattern the kuih into traditional Chinese kuih shape, which is a tortoise, symbolizes longevity. I'm the one in charge of this process and I'm able to mold it faster than anyone else in the family. I used to use a wooden and clay mold last time. Clay mold doesn't give proper shape while wooden mold sticks too much. The plastic mold is the best because it doesn't stick much and light. The pattern molded is also very clear and nice.

The sweet one are molded with pattern and the salty ones are made without molding.

 

The kuihs are steamed for 10 minutes, and 15 minutes for the first batch. Two kualis are used continuously to steam all the kuih.

<

My dad is in charge of cutting the leaves after being steamed for cosmetic purposes.

Last but not least, the greedy sister who can't wait to eat.

It may look weird and bad because the black colour texture, but the taste is unique and you will never find it anymore except home made. The ingredients are cheap, but the procedure is very tedious.