Friday, October 06, 2006

Pak Thong Koh

After a few request for this recipe, I've finally decided to post it into my blog. This recipe is adapted from the book: Y3K - Kuih Muih.
This recipe is tested by me and it is one of the best recipe I've come acrossed in my 30 years of baking. Do try it though it takes time for fermentation process.





Starter Dough:

100 gm. cooked rice (boil overnight and leave to cool)
1/2 Tbsp. Ragi (wine biscuit - chiew piah)- can buy from malay market
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 Tbsp. water

Method:

Mix all the above ingredients together and leave it to ferment for 2 days (48 hrs). Keep in a container, covered and best to keep in a cupboard to let it ferment. After 48 hours, weigh out 60gm. and balance can keep in the fridge.

Kuih starter Dough:

60 gm. of the fermented starter dough
100 gm. rice flour
Some plain water

Method:

Mix the starter dough and rice flour and if you find it too dry, add in some plain water. Put into a container, covered and let it ferment again for about 16 - 18 hours. Weigh out only 80 gms. of this kuih starter dough.

Ingredients (A):

220 gm. rice flour
30 gm. tapioca flour
280 gm. water

Ingredients (B):

200 gm. castor sugar
400 ml. water
3 blades of pandan leaves (tied into a knot)

Ingredients (C):

80 gm. of the fermented kuih starter dough

Ingredients (D):

1/4 tsp. Alkaline water/ lye water or air abu
1 tsp. cooking oil

Method:

(1) Combine ingredients (A) together in a big mixing bowl. Set aside.
(2) Bring ingredients (B) to a boil, then discard pandan leaves. Pour half portion into no. (1) and mix well. Cool the remaining half portion for about 2 mins. before pouring into the rice flour mixture in the mixing bowl. Mix well, leave mixture to cool.
(3) Add the 80 gm. of fermented kuih starter dough and sieve it. Let it ferment again for about 12 - 14 hours.
(4) add oil into the fermented mixture (3). Add alkaline water and mix well before pouring into a greased 10" round steaming tray. Steam for about 15 - 20 mins over medium heat. Testwith a skewer before removing from the steamer.
(5) You can glaze the pak thong koh with some oil whilst still hot and cool well before cutting kuih into pieces.

50 comments:

Biow said...

sorry.. i have been lurking ur blog recently. Can i know what is Y3K? thanks!

Anonymous said...

hi aunty, i m truly very impressed with all your bakes and photos you showed. hope i can achieve your standard one day . just curious to know where did you normally get your recipes from? are they from the Y3k cookbooks? also i saw so many nice pic of what you have made in the nurkochen blog but some of the recipes are not in your website. can you share? thx

Aunty Yochana said...

Y3K is the Publisher.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Yochana for taking the time to meet my request...now that you have tested the recipe, I'll take my turn at it... though the whole process of making a simple named cake takes like forever to make.

Appreciate your efforts sincerely.

Rusti said...

I do agree this is one of the best pak thong koh. My sister tried this recipe last month. Although the process of fermentation is long, the results are well worth it.

Aunty Yochana said...

rusti,

Thanks for your comments. At least it helps to give some confidence to those who wants to try.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Hi Lucy,

Just wanna check what do you mean by boil overnight & leave to cool? Can I use leftover rice from yesterday?

Thanks.

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi,

You're right, it's overnight rice..

rgds

Biow said...

thanks!

Biow said...

thanks!

Anonymous said...

wht does ragi look like? I live in Sydney. The chinese shop here sells yeast in round balls in a packet. The packet says made in china. Is tht the same thing?

Lisa

Aunty Yochana said...

Lisa,

They way you described sounds like ragi. In cantonese, it called "chou peng". wine yeast biscuit. White or slightly cream in colour. I like those that comes from Malaysia or Indonesia.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this recipe with us. I like to know how it should look like the rice fermented after 48h? I saw my grandmother make wine with ragi and glutinous rice but after a week the rice still there but begin losing his shape. So I wonder, if the rice didn't dissolve completely, the pak tong koh will be not smooth?

I appreciate some comment from a expert like you.
Stephie

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Stephie,

After 48 hours, the fermented mixture looks forthy and smells sourish. This is a good recipe but please do have patience.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Thanks for answering. In fact, it a excellent recipe to practice our patience! As long it's worth it, I think the time is not a matter.
Thanks again Aunty yochana!

Anonymous said...

Aunty Yochana, Thanks for this successful recipe. You are right, it's the best!



Stephie

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Stephie,

I'm so happy for you. Congrats..

rgds

Anonymous said...

Dear Aunty Yochana,

Please help me, I'm going to try this recipe.

Could you please tell me that how long the balance of Starter Dough can keep in the fridge?

and can I keep the balance of Kuih starter Dough in the fridge ?

Thanks for all your help.

Regards,

Anna

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Anna,

You can keep the starter dough for 3 days in the fridge.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Dear Aunty Yochana,

I tried this recipe yesterday,
And I can tell you that to me this pak thong koh is the best.
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe.


Regards,

Anna

Aunty Yochana said...

Congrats Anna!...Thumbs up.

rgds

Anonymous said...

hi aunty. would like your advise on the following:
1. Do i have to dissolve the rice in the first step of fermentation?

2. CAn i use instant yeast instead of the long fermentation?

Thank you

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi anonymous,

for the first step, the rice will become soft only.

I've not tried with instant yeast but I think it might not work. it will not give the honeycomb look.

rgds.

Anonymous said...

hi aunty thanks for your prompt reply. another question: after the last fermentation, the mixture wil have to be stirred again right? wouldnt that result in the absence of the honneycomb effect? thanks

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi anonymous,

You have to stir it...the honeycomb effect will be there.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Thanks aunty. I am in the process of trying this recipe. But I am left with some fermented rice and the starter dough in the fridge which I duno what to do with them.... any suggestions.

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi anonymous,

you can use it for "Wa Kok Kway"

Rgds

Kristy said...

This is the best recipe ever. I tried it the other day and it turned out great. I tried many many recipes and this is the only one that works so far. Thanks a lot for sharing. Your kindness is very much appreciated. :)

minhoregon said...

Hi Aunty,
Could you please help me:
Where I can buy Alkaline water/lye water or abu.
My process making Pak Thong Koh is stop at #4 (after adding oil into fermented mixture (3). I can not find Alkaline water to add.
Can we steam Pak Thong Kok without alkaline water?

Aunty Yochana said...

hi minhoregon

You can get alkaline water from sun lik, phoon huat or kwong cheong thye,

rgds

lalee said...

thanks for the recipes but
what does gm. stand for?

lalee said...

what does gm. stand for?

Anonymous said...

hi yochana,

for the kuih starter dough, recipe calls for some plain water to be added inside. Not sure what is the amount of water needed?
Do I need to add enough water and knead it into a dough-like form?

Regards,
BL

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty,

How to make the brown pak thong koh as shown in ur post?

Is it to replace brown sugar with the caster sugar? =)

lyn

Aunty Yochana said...

hi lyn

use black sugar which is available in NTUC.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Dear Aunty Yochana,
Thank you so much for posting this recipe. It is my favourite kueh and I am going to make this tomorrow. Could you please tell me is it okay to use Corn Flour to substitute Tapioca Flour in your recipe. Thank you once again.

Best regards,
Michelle

Anonymous said...

I want to share this recipe with you.
Indegredients:
170 g rice flour
130 g sugar
a bit less than 1/4 tsp yeast
440 ml coconut water.
Method:
Take 140 ml coconut water and boil it with sugar and 3 blades of pandan leaves until it turns yellow. Cool.
Take the yeast and mix it with 1 tablesp. of warm water. Mix the rest of the liquid to the flour, syrup and yeast.
Leave it for 6 hours. Steam at high flame for half an hour.

Anonymous said...

hi,
can i substitute wine biscuit with instant yeast. thks.

WendyinKK said...

Aunty,
I have tried this Pak Thong Koh recipe and I love it very much.
Before this I have tried 2 other recipes and they don't produce very satisfactory results.

I changed the tapioca starch to wheat starch and I got double decker honeycombs.

You can see the cake here: http://wendyinkk.blogspot.com/2010/05/chinese-white-honeycomb-cake-pak-thong.html

Anonymous said...

Dear Yochana,
Thank you for posting such a wonderful recipes..i tried this recipes last week, it came out very sucessful!! it is worth although i need to wake up 4oclock in the morning!

Anonymous said...

Hi, do you use regular white rice or the glutinous sweet rice? Thank You!

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty,

Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe :)
I'm trying to make this but I made a mistake, I totally forgotten about the starter dough and left it in the cupboard for 36 hours, can I still use it and continue with the next step?

Anonymous said...

Hi yochana do I add the 80g of dough into the mixture

Anonymous said...

Hi Yochana do I add the 80 grams of dough in to the rice flour mix? And what do I do with the rest of it

Unknown said...

Hi Aunty, What do I do with the balance from the starter dough and the Kueh starter dough which I kept in the refrigerator? Can it be used to make the next Pak Thong Koh? I heard from my dad (deceased already) that in making this rice cake, you should always include a mother dough which came from the previous preparation.

Unknown said...

Hi Aunty, What do I do with the balance from the starter dough and the Kueh starter dough which I kept in the refrigerator? Can I use it the next I make a rice cake? I remember once my dad told me that in making this rice cake, you should include the mother dough saved from previous preparation.

Unknown said...

Hi Aunty, What do I do with the balance from the starter dough and the Kueh starter dough kept in the refrigerator? Can I use it in making the next rice cake? I remember my dad told me that in making this rice cake, you should include the mother dough saved from the previous preparation.

Dizano said...

Thanks Yochana for taking the time to meet my request...

Unknown said...

Hi Aunty Yochana,

I tried this recipe but my kueh nvr rise. Sobs..... I left the starter dough to ferment for about 24 hours. Could that be the mistake?

Anonymous said...

Hi Ms. Yochana, is there any way you could modify your recipe units in cups instead of grams? i'm wishing to make this recipe work, please help me. thank you in advance.

ela