Sunday, February 7, 2010

Kuih Momo

This is not so much of a kuih, i suppose. It's a cookie of some sort. Some people call it kuih makmur and I guess somehow that degenerated into momo, which I think is much cuter and more suitable for the flurry looking balls.

Some readers have been asking me for the recipe last year, and I've promised to share it this year. As most of you know by now, I am not so much of a cookie maker. By nature I am a lazy person, and I can't see the joy of putting in so much effort into shaping every single little piece of these cookies which will end up with one bite only.

However, this one is easy, I think. And anyone can do it. What differentiates a good momo from the average ones is that the good ones should burst in your mouth upon eating, with a nice buttery fragrant. That is why I don't use ghee. I just use good old butter. The burst feel comes from frying the flour. I use glucose instead of icing sugar which I find too floury in the already floury cookie. It gives a nice cold feel on your tongue before the burst.

So here is the recipe:

make about 80 or so pieces, plus or minus
250 gm of good quality butter like anchor, golden churn in block
350-370 gm of plain flour
enough glucose, about 300 gm or more to coat

1) Over medium heat, stir fry flour without any oil until fragrant and you can see a light tint of brown. Set aside to cool. Sift into a bowl.

2) Melt butter and slowly pour into the centre of the flour. Mix and knead well.

3) Shape into round balls and bake for 20 min at 160 deg celcius without fan or till the balls are cooked through and the bottom slightly light brown.

4) Cool for a few mins before throwing them into a bowl of glucose to coat thoroughly. Place into small cups and cool to lukewarm before packing in airtight container.

Just a word of warning though, kuih momo is something that either people really like, or really hate. At least that's what I've gathered from the many comments that I've heard before. But nevertheless, I have them every year. They're my must-have Chinese New Year cookies & I hope you'll enjoy them too.


14 comments:

terri@adailyobsession said...

thanks for the special treats. Your kuih momo are absolutely delicious! i prefer these to the ones that break at the slightest touch and smell of baby formula. excellent, n the kuih bangkit were best i've eaten. how did u get the pattern on them? so much work!

Jade said...

oh I love kuih momo and I love your blog..i'm from sibu too and it's so lovely to see recipes of foochow food :)

Greg Wee said...

Hi Auntie Terri. The kuih bangkit were made by my aunt, from my grandma's age-old recipe, & her age-old techniques. Everything is handmade from 100% raw materials. The patterns were actually teeth marks from the tweezers. I never got to do the tweezers & I could only watch when I was younger. The only part my grandma allowed me to do, was to help spread them out on the platter for baking.

S.Y said...

Hey, awesome blog you have there! Stumbled across your blog while googling for recipes. What a small small world, huh? Turns out you are my friend's lecturer. Checked out the blog post on your birthday @ Magenta and you turned out to be the lady in the photograph which my friend uploaded on FB.

I love baking and cooking too. And in a year's time, I'll be graduating and will be in the education line too. ;)

Btw, here's a little something I'd like to share with you. I found out that the blocks of Golden Churn butter (250gm) aren't original anymore. The salesperson from a baking ingredient store told me so. That is why baked goods made with that butter don't have the buttery aroma anymore. She told me that Anchor is now better compared to Golden Churn. The canned version however, is still the best albeit slightly pricier. That explains why most supermarkets can sell the Golden Churn butter blocks at cheaper prices - way, way cheaper than Anchor!

Anyways, happy baking :) And a Happy Chinese New Year to you and your family!

Peng said...

Hello, can you tell me what's the glucose you used and where I can get it? Thanks and Gong Xi Fa Cai!

NEE said...

i got it from normal baking ingredients shop.

dining tables said...

Thanks for sharing these sweet treats to us. Yours is much easier to make.

Chocolate Cookies & Candies said...

Thanks, Nee! Can't wait to try this out. I haven't had these for decades!

NEE said...

SY: a small world i suppose. who is your friend by the way which year. i think you are rite about the golden churn block type. somehow less flavourful. i normally just use anchor. once in a while if anchor not available i will use golden churn. those in tins i used for lapis which is really good. smoother. thanks for sharing

dining tables: yes this is not hard. hope you will like it.

Marlene: Happy CNY arent you here for cny.

Sophie said...

These buttery cookies look so good, I love the outer coating.

Chocolate Cookies & Candies said...

Nee, thank you for the recipe. I made it a few weeks ago and it was as delicious as I remembered from 20 years ago. I had no idea it was this easy to make. Thank you again.

Marlene

Chocolate Cookies & Candies said...

Hi Nee, nope, didn't make it for CNY but came back to Sibu to visit my grandma and the rest of the relatives in Kuching last Oct. I ran out of time so didn't even manage to call Alvin and Alvina. eek. Don't tell them that. Haven't seen them since Uni days and that was 15 years ago.

Got my mom hooked on your blog and she recognized some of your relatives! What a small world.

Marlene

NicWy said...

Hi Nee,

About the Momo Kuih. How come my mixture seens to be so watery. I can't form a ball with it..

i just put in 250G butter in the 370G flour.

Unknown said...

Thank u !!! This recipe is so much better as it uses butter instead of ghee. Can't wait to try it out with my kids !!!

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