Recipe for Chwee Kuay

Made this last week. The chai bor was a too salty as I did not read the packing properly and hence did not know that it needed to be soaked first :P!

Rice Cake Mixture

200g Rice Flour
2T Tapioca Flour
31/2 cups Water
2T Vegetable Oil
2t Salt

1.Mix the flours together in a large bowl, pour in 1 1/2 cups cold water and mix well.
2.To this mixture, add 2 cups of boiling water followed by the oil.
3.Season.
4.Heat the moulds in the steamer. This is done so they mixture doesn’t stick.

Preserved Radish Topping (Chai Po)

100g Preserved Radish
2 Chinese Sausages
5 or 6 Shitake Mushrooms
2 Fresh Red Chillies
1 Head of Garlic
Light Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil

1.Finely dice all the ingredients. If you are using dried shitake mushrooms, a quicker way to reconstitute them is to simply boil them for around 10 to 15 minutes.
2.Heat some (read A LOT) of cooking oil in a wok until smoky. The amount of oil may alarm you but this topping calls for a lot of it.
3.Add in the chinese sausage first and fry until fragrant, push to one side and add in the garlic.
4.Turn down the heat and add the rest of the ingredients. The topping is done when it has reduced in size, is beautifully crispy and the oil that was absorbed has been released again. This process takes about 20 minutes. Just before it is done, season with the soy sauce and sesame oil to taste – keeping in mind that the radishes themselves are already pretty salty.