INTRODUCTION

All these while, I always thought that this snack belong to our Malay or Peranakan brothers or even Dayak brothers in Sarawak.. I seldom saw Chinese elders prepare this and initially, I wanted to Group them into Peranakan or Malay recipes..

Obviously I was wrong, totally wrong.. When I posted the images in Hong Kong Facebook food group and Taiwan Facebook food group, I was very shocked that they have such traditional snack too. In Hong Kong, they called it 糖环 or literally translated as sugar rings. You can refer  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTVN4I74vGs and you will be able to see a video  of how they did it which is exactly the same as what we are doing here.

What the members of Hong Kong Food Group  can relate was that it is not common nowadays, prepared by their grannies and usually during Chinese New Year period. They missed the snack and even if they can find the snack, it is expensive.

On the other hand, Taiwanese members are very interested in this preparation.  It seems that there is  a famous store in a temple that sell this snack by some elders and they called it lotus biscuit（莲花饼）. I googled and concluded that it is basically the same thing except the mould are slightly bigger. In addition, there is one extra step in the preparation, after the snack is dished out from the hot oil, it was place in an inverted bowl and when the snack is cooled, it resemble a lotus flower that curves up.. A great idea and I should have seen this earlier before I prepared this batch of snack. A video of how they did it is attached here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1iefazXa0U

In Malaysia, the Chinese called it 蜂巢饼 or literally translated as beehive biscuit. The Peranakan community apparently called it kuih ros or Rose biscuits probably because it looked like a flower. In Malay, it was called kuih loyang or brass moulded biscuits.. This Chinese New Year goodies can still easily be found in the market..

I have long wanted to prepare this biscuit in the last few years. What held me back is the price of the mould. I have ever enquired from a shop in Singapore, what it quoted is about S10-12 and I am unwilling to invest in an expensive tool for just a cookie. I thought this is the market price but yesterday when I am shopping in a bakery shop in Haig road, Singapore, it was only sold at  about S$4.50 and I quickly grabbed one .

My kuih loyang definitely is not the most beautiful. One the reasons that I can think of is the experience of preparation. Being first time preparing this cookie, I have to learn how to dip, the heat required, how to shake off the biscuits. I am using trial and error for almost half of my batter and things started to get better after deep frying for about 15 biscuit.

Another reason that i can think of is the mould used. Though the mould look standard, when I googled, it seems that some are bigger and deeper and some are small and shallow like what I am using today. In addition, there are other shapes .. Therefore, if others’ cookies look better than yours, mould can be a prime reason.

This recipe should be a local recipe that uses local ingredients such as coconut milk. I believed that is the main difference between Taiwanese and Hong Kong recipes that uses only plain water.. As for me, regional adaptation is definitely acceptable to take into consideration availability of local ingredients.

i am very happy with the outcome. It is crispy, aromatic and definitely an addictive cookie that I will not prepare too often.. Well, I will prepare again but not too often because it involves deep frying. ha-ha

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: About 40-50 cookies depend on size of the  mould

Recipe adapted from : Kuih Loyang / Kuih Rose / Honeycomb Cookies |

• 200 grams or ml of thick coconut milk
• 100 grams or ml of plain water
• 100 grams of all purpose flour
• 100 grams of rice flour
• 1 large egg
• 80 grams of castor sugar
• Pinches of salt
• Kuih Ros / Kuih loyang mould
• Adequate oil for deep frying

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Sift the flours into a mixing bowl. Crack the eggs, gradually add the coconut milk and plain water, use a whisk to whisk until it forms a watery batter. Use a sift to sift the batter to the bowl. Set aside.

• Heat up a pot of oil on medium to high heat. Pre-heat the brass mould in the hot oil for 1-2 minutes. Dip the brass mould onto the batter. Ensure that it does not touch the top part of the mould but the sides and bottom of the mould. Quickly transfer the mould coated with batter to the hot oil, hold for 30 seconds and shake of the cookies. Deep fry the cookies until golden brown. Drain with inverted position to let the oil flows out. Once completely cooled, store in an air tight container.

CONCLUSION

i am unsure the origin of this cookies. It definitely belong to most races in the Asian regions but I do believed that it is also a Chinese traditional cookies as evidenced by its existence in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a Happy New Year and may you and your families be blessed with what you are aiming for.  It is time to get ready Chinese New Year preparation and more Chinese New Year cookies recipes will be coming up soon.

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