A dark green-black Chaoshan kueh made by working a wild spring herb into a glutinous-rice dough, traditionally eaten around the tomb-sweeping season. The herb is shu-ke (鼠壳, the cudweed used across the region for spring cakes), boiled, mashed and kneaded into the dough until it turns deep green and gains a soft, faintly herbal fragrance. Pressed in a wooden mold, often tortoise-backed for long life, it is filled sweet — black sesame, sweet bean paste or sugared glutinous rice — and steamed, then often pan-fried. Its color, herb scent and festival role make it one of the most distinctive Teochew kueh.
Mugwort kueh is a seasonal kueh of the Chaoshan region, tied to the cool months and especially to the Qingming tomb-sweeping festival, when it is made as an offering and a spring food. Its defining ingredient is a wild herb the Teochew call shu-ke (鼠壳) — the cudweed (Jersey cudweed, 鼠曲草) that flushes in southern fields in spring; it is the same culinary impulse behind the green spring cakes made across southern China, though Teochew cooks use this local herb rather than true mugwort. The herb gives the kueh its color, scent and a soft texture, and it carries the folk associations of a spring 'green' food. The cake is shaped in the region's wooden molds, the tortoise-backed pattern (linking it to the 红龟粿 lineage) standing for long life. As a folk festival kueh its precise origin is not documented to a date, and which exact herb is used can vary by locality, so its name rather than a reign marks it.
Striking to look at — a deep green-black cake, glossy and dense, pressed with the ridges of its mold. The skin is soft, chewy and a little sticky, the glutinous rice carrying a gentle, grassy-herbal fragrance from the cudweed rather than any bitterness. Bitten open, the sweet heart spills its character: nutty toasted black sesame, or smooth sweet bean paste, or sugary glutinous rice. Steamed it is tender and mochi-soft; pan-fried, the base crisps to a thin chew against the soft body. The overall impression is mild, sweet and faintly green-tasting, the herb felt as aroma and color more than as a strong flavor.
The green comes from the herb and the soft chew from how it is treated. Fresh cudweed is high in fibre and slightly tough, so it is blanched (sometimes with a pinch of alkali to lock the green), squeezed, and pounded or finely chopped to a paste before it goes into the dough — blanching also tames its raw note and breaks the fibre so the dough stays smooth and pliable rather than stringy. It is kneaded into glutinous rice flour (often with a little rice flour to temper the stickiness) and sugar, sometimes with a spoon of oil for gloss, and worked hot so the dough takes a clean impression from the mold. The filling is fully cooked and cooled — a sweet sesame or bean paste holds its shape and will not steam the skin slack. Steaming about 10 minutes sets the cake; the cudweed's chlorophyll dulls from bright to deep olive-green with the heat, which is the kueh's characteristic dark color. The optional pan-fry browns the base by Maillard reaction for contrast.
Variations
Filling is the main variable, and it is usually sweet: toasted black sesame with sugar, smooth red or mung bean paste, or sugared glutinous rice with peanut are the classics; some households make a savory glutinous-rice filling like that of the red peach kueh. The herb itself varies by place and season — Chaoshan's shu-ke (cudweed) is traditional, but cooks elsewhere use true mugwort (艾) for a similar green cake, the broad tradition shared across southern China and seen in dishes such as the Hakka–Cantonese ai cake and the Jiangnan qingtuan. The mold sets the shape and meaning, with the tortoise-back pattern the common one. Steamed-soft and pan-fried-crisp are both standard ways to eat it.
On the Palate
Where Mugwort Kueh sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
7 steps · 1 hour 10 min active + 50 min waiting
- 115 min
Blanch the fresh cudweed in boiling water until soft, drain, squeeze dry, and pound or finely chop to a smooth green paste.
Watch outBlanch just until the leaves go limp, then squeeze bone-dry and pound to a smooth paste — leftover water makes the dough slack, and any stringy bits show up as tough fibers in the skin.
- 220 min
Prepare a sweet filling: toast and grind black sesame with sugar and a little lard (or use ready bean paste); chill until firm.
- 315 min
Knead the cudweed paste, glutinous rice flour, a little rice flour, sugar and warm water into a smooth, deep-green, pliable dough; add a spoon of oil for gloss.
- 48 min
Divide the warm dough and press each piece into a thin round in the palm.
- 512 min
Spoon in the cooled sweet filling, gather and pinch shut, then press in a floured tortoise-back wooden mold and rap out the patterned cake.
Watch outPinch the seam fully shut before molding, and knock the cake out clean — any gap and the filling weeps out when it steams; a well-floured mold gives crisp pattern lines.
- 612 min
Set the cakes on oiled banana-leaf or paper and steam over high heat for about 10 minutes; brush with a little oil and cool slightly.
Watch outSteam on high just about ten minutes — the skin turns glossy and translucent-green; over-steam and the soft glutinous shell slumps and loses its shape.
- 78 min
Serve steamed and soft, or pan-fry the base in a little oil over medium heat until lightly crisp.
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