A translucent-skinned steamed dumpling filled with finely julienned turnip and bamboo shoots. Soft, slightly chewy and savoury, a pure Teochew tradition in Singapore, where bamboo shoots are commonly swapped for local turnip.
Soon kueh is a pure Teochew tradition in Singapore, a translucent-skinned steamed dumpling filled with finely julienned turnip and bamboo shoots. The name means bamboo-shoot dumpling in Teochew. In Singapore, bamboo shoots are commonly swapped for local turnip (jicama or mangkuang) as a local adaptation that defines the local version. Heritage Teochew kueh stalls, some 50 years old, are central to Singapore's heritage-kueh craft, and soon kueh is eaten for breakfast or as a snack with chilli and sweet black sauce.
A soft, slightly chewy, translucent wrapper around a savoury, crunchy-sweet turnip-and-prawn filling, the two textures distinct. Eaten with a dab of chilli and sweet sauce, it is delicate, savoury and the pure Teochew hawker bite.
The wrapper is made from a hot-water dough of rice flour and tapioca flour, which gives the translucency and the soft, slightly chewy bite. The dough is rolled thin, filled with a pre-cooked mixture of julienned turnip, dried shrimp, garlic and seasoning, pleated shut, and steamed until the wrapper turns translucent. The tapioca-to-rice ratio and the hot-water dough technique are what give the wrapper its signature texture.
Variations
A bamboo-shoot version uses real bamboo. Some add dried mushroom to the filling.
On the Palate
Where Soon Kueh sits in the Singaporean flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
6 steps · 45 min
- 110 min
Mix 150g tapioca flour and 100g rice flour; pour in 350ml boiling water and stir to a hot dough; knead smooth; rest 20 minutes.
Watch outPour the boiling water into the flours and work it straight into a hot dough — cool water leaves the wrapper stiff instead of soft and stretchy.
- 28 min
For the filling: julienne 400g turnip (or bamboo shoot); squeeze dry.
- 310 min
Fry 4 cloves garlic and 30g soaked dried shrimp in 2 tbsp oil; add the turnip, 1 tbsp light soy, 1 tsp sugar and pepper; cook until dry; cool.
Watch outCook the turnip filling until it's completely dry — any leftover moisture makes the wrapper split open while steaming.
- 412 min
Roll the dough thin; cut into 10cm rounds; place a spoon of filling on each; pleat into a half-moon.
- 510 min
Steam on oiled banana leaf 10 minutes until the wrappers turn translucent.
Watch outSteam just until the wrappers turn translucent — that see-through look is the doneness cue; oversteam and they slump and tear.
- 64 min
Serve hot with chilli and sweet black sauce.
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