Soft, bouncy steamed pandan mini-cakes rolled in freshly grated salted coconut, slightly caramelised by gula melaka. A top-three Singapore kueh built on the pandan-coconut-palm-sugar trinity.
Kueh kosui is a top-ranked Singapore Nyonya kueh, frequently named among the best three kueh in Singapore. Soft, bouncy steamed mini-cakes made with pandan juice and gula melaka are rolled in freshly grated, salted coconut. The pandan-coconut-gula-melaka trinity is the signature Singapore kueh flavour combination, and kosui is one of its purest expressions. It is a fixture of the Singapore Nyonya kueh stall tray.
Soft, bouncy, intensely pandan-flavoured cakes with a caramel edge from the gula melaka, the salted grated coconut giving a savoury, chewy contrast. Eaten in one bite, it is sweet, salty and aromatic at once.
The batter is a mix of rice flour and tapioca flour with pandan juice, gula melaka and water, steamed in small moulds until set but still bouncy. The gula melaka gives both sweetness and a caramel depth that white sugar cannot. The cakes are rolled in freshly grated coconut that is salted, which provides the savoury counter. The tapioca-to-rice ratio determines the bounciness; too much tapioca and they go rubbery.
Variations
A gula melaka-forward version uses more palm sugar. Some add a pandan knot during steaming for aroma.
On the Palate
Where Kueh Kosui sits in the Singaporean flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 12How it's made
6 steps · 25 min
- 16 min
Extract pandan juice: blend 10 pandan leaves with 150ml water, strain to 150ml.
- 26 min
Dissolve 120g chopped gula melaka in the pandan juice over low heat; cool.
- 35 min
Whisk 60g rice flour, 40g tapioca flour and the pandan-gula mixture with 150ml water until smooth.
- 48 min
Pour into small lightly-oiled moulds; steam 15 minutes until set and bouncy.
Watch outSteam just until set but still bouncy — over-steam and the tapioca goes rubbery and hard instead of springy-soft.
- 55 min
Steam 150g freshly grated coconut with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes; cool.
- 64 min
Unmould the cakes, roll in the salted coconut, and serve.
Watch outRoll the cakes in the salted coconut — that salt is the savory counter to the gula melaka; unsalted and the cake reads flat and one-note sweet.
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