Chinese cuisine is not particularly known for its desserts, but there are some that have endured the test of time. One example is the traditional ang ku kueh (红龟粿), the chewy, sticky snack made with glutinous rice flour and sweet fillings.
The colouring for the skin, as implied by the “ang” (红) in its name, has always been red. Because red is an auspicious colour for the Chinese, signifying luck and prosperity.
Molds used to press the skin into shape before steaming have a turtle (龟) design, to symbolise longevity. Which is further reinforced by having the word “shou” (寿) carved in the middle.
Despite having the colour red being hard-coded into the name, many shops have decided that ang ku kueh doesn’t always have to be red. Even long-standing ones that have been making it for decades have changed tack.
I’m sure that a big driver of this break from tradition is an attempt to reach out to younger customers, who may otherwise give this dessert a miss. Coupled with the colour change, fillings have also been modernised.
The Wife is a big fan of ang ku kueh and always keeps a lookout for new places that sell them. A couple of months back, she went to The Ang Ku Kueh Hut’s pop-up store at Raffles Xchange and came back with two boxes of their colourful creations.
Green bean is the standard ang ku kueh filling, and the one from AKK Hut had a finer texture than most. The skin was soft, chewy and noticeably thinner than others, making it less dense and cloying.
Peanut is another common filling, and their version was quite close to the traditional peanut candy that you used to be able to buy from neighbourhood provision shops. Those old-school shops are now few and far between, and kids nowadays probably have no idea what I’m talking about.
The chestnut filling was a seasonal offering, and while chestnut itself is quite a common ingredient in Chinese cooking, using it as a filling for ang ku kueh is unusual. It was a great choice, one that The Wife enjoyed thoroughly. Hopefully, they’ll include in their regular offering.
Hazelnut was even more unexpected, and had a really interesting taste and texture contrast between the skin and the filling. It was like biting into a mochi-wrapped Ferrero Rocher chocolate. Given the similarities, it felt like an upgraded and modernised version of the peanut.
But pistachio was the one that really impressed the both of us. There was no mistaking its unique taste, which somehow became more intense as we continued chewing. We could tell that it was made purely from pistachio, without any artificial flavouring.
I’m a huge fan of pistachio in desserts, especially as an ice cream flavour or in sinfully sweet Turkish sweets. Finding it in a traditional Chinese kueh was very surprising, especially since it was executed so well.
There was only one pistachio in the assorted box, which was a huge pity. We were only able to enjoy half a piece each, and made a mental note to buy more of it next time.
The location of their main shop at 36 Kim Keat Road is not particularly accessible for us, but they regularly open pop-up shops in more central locations. Luckily for us, they decided to return to Raffles Xchange for the whole of July.
Chestnut was unfortunately not available this time round, but pistachio was, as well as two other flavours that we hadn’t tried yet. The Wife whatsapp’ed them to reserve two boxes, and we took the train down on a weekday afternoon to pick them up.
By the time we arrived, most of their supply had been snapped up, including all their pistachio! Good thing we made prior reservations.
Over the next three days, we had the 10 pieces of ang ku kueh for breakfast, paired with our usual black V60 pour over coffee. The pistachio (we bought three this time!) was consistently good, and we made another mental note to buy even more next time.
Yam and red bean were the two new flavours that we hadn’t tried previously. While the red bean was nice, it was not amazingly so. The yam, on the other hand, was an eye-opener. The filling had just the right ratio of smooth paste and chunky pieces, allowing us to fully savour its natural taste.
Given that the pop-up store at Raffles Xchange will run through to the end of July, we’re already making plans for another trip down to stock up.
Now that we’ve tried most of their flavours, we’ll skip their assorted boxes and focus on specific flavours that we especially enjoy i.e. pistachio, yam and green bean. Too bad chestnut is not available, but there’s always next time!
