For the Chinese New Year celebration, I also made a Steamed Rice Cake. This is slightly different from the Pak Thong Koh. Pak Tong Koh is leavened by yeast while this Steamed Rice Cake is leavened by double acting baking powder. It does not have the hint of sourness as the Pak Thong Koh.
This Steamed Rice Cake is lightly sweet. It is eaten during Chinese New Year because of the way the cake rises and blossoms. Rise in Cantonese is “fatt” and “fatt” in Cantonese also means prosperity or wealth.
Ingredients
Step 1:
- 200g rice flour
- 200ml coconut milk
- 160ml boiling water
- 1 teaspoon double acting baking powder
Step 2:
- 120g sugar
- 1 teaspoon double acting baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
Instructions
 Sift the rice flour and baking powder (1 teaspoon) into a bowl. |
 Combine rice flour mixture with coconut milk. |
 Mix well until you get a smooth batter. |
 Add boiling water, mix well and set aside to cool. |
 When cool, stir in the 2nd teaspoon of baking powder and set aside for 1 hour. |
 Add sugar to the batter after 1 hour. |
 Also add the vanilla essence. |
 Divide the batter into 2 portions. Add different food colouring to the batter. |
 Line aluminum cups (I used a 6 cups muffin tin) with paper cups. Pour batter into cups until 90% full and leave to rise for 30 minutes.Steam over rapidly boiling water for about 15 minutes. |
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9 users responded in this post
Hi Suanne,
These look really delicious and I’m looking forward to Ben’s upcoming lunch series!
Emily
I would love to try to make this! I am bookmarking this page. It’s a bit similar to our Bibingka in the Philippines, but minus the shredded coconut. YUM!
Hi Suanne,
Thanks for sharing this recipe. This is my hubby’s favorite kueh. I’m wondering is the double acting baking powder the same as the regular baking powder? Just double the amount?
Thanks.
Dawn
Hi Dawn,
Double acting baking powder is baking soda with 2 dry acids added to it. You’ll get two leavening actions from it, i.e. once when liquid is added to it and second when it’s heated. It’s different from regular baking powder and not just double the amount.
Hi Suanne,
I really want to try this recipe. I have made with succes other recipes like the steamed banana cake, pinapple chicken among other. But i have been looking for double acting baking powder here in Panama and have not been succesful yet. Do you think it can be substitute with something else? Thank you very much!!!!!
Hi Celia, I found this substitution from joy of cooking website:
1 teaspoon of double acting baking powder with 1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar plus 1/4 teaspoon cornstarch. Let me know how it turns out.
[...] Suanne and Ben blogs about the restaurants they went, and the food Suanne cooked. I found the steamed rice cake recipe from their [...]
Hi Suanne,
I tried to make this for the second time today and I failed again (first time I used glutinous by accident) ! I used the same package of rice flour as you did, but I used the Rooster brand coconut milk Ideal For Baking line. Would it make a difference? I also used continuous action baking powder. I think it is the same as double action? or not?
Instead, it turned out to be exactly like this texture….
http://www.moe.gov.sg/edumall/tl/digital_resources/ml/images/puteri_salat.jpg
and not like yours!
Please help!
thanks!
Hi Christine, I’m not sure what went with yours. The continuous action baking powder should act like the double action baking powder. I dont think the brand of coconut milk makes any difference. The texture should not be as smooth as the ‘kuih’ in your photograph. The only reason I can think off is the baking powder you have is not fresh anymore, i.e. it’s not working as it should. Try using a new batch.
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