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It’s a great honor to have Madam Kwong of Madam Kwong’s Kitchen guest posting on Nyonya Food today. Raised in Penang, Madam Kwong is a retired Nyonya chef currently based in Australia. I have been a secret fan of Madam Kwong’s Kitchen—her gorgeous blog with many authentic and delicious Nyonya/Malaysian recipes. Please welcome Madam Kwong and her daughter Suz (the photographer) to Nyonya Food with her kuih benka or tapioca/cassava cake recipe. Kuih Bengka is a very delicious Nyonya kuih, one of my late grandmother’s specialties and also my personal favorite. Enjoy!
Firstly, I wish to thank Nyonya Food for inviting me to guest post in her amazing blog. I was so excited when she emailed me and am truly honored. We share something in common, well, besides cooking, speaking the same language or the love of food. We are both from our beautiful island of Penang, Malaysia. She wanted me to “cook up” a Nyonya dish. The choice of Nyonya cooking is vast and hard but this recipe is very simple. Oh! She did hint she wanted a kuih. So, I whipped up Kuih Bengka. My daughter, the amateur photographer, Suz took the photos and soon enough ate most of the kuihs.
In the past where there was no electricity, Nyonyas used charcoal to bake Kuih Bengka (Cassava). The top of the kuih would become dark brown. These days, you can still get the same top crusty effect in a fan forced oven which is caused by the baking process. The kuih is light yellow in colour and has a sweetly scented coconut flavor. You can even bite into the grated coconut. I used the old fashion wooden coconut grater to grate the coconut in this recipe. Ahhh! Life is hard, knowing that you can buy frozen grated coconut. This is an easy recipe to make and hope you try it as well.
We do hope we’re able to spread the Peranakan culture to the world.
(Click Page 2 for Kuih Bengka Recipe)
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Wow, can’t believe it’s so easy? I think even I can make that. Looks amazing. Love cassava, so crunchy. Thnx Bee and Madam Kwong. I don’t think I know this cake even though my mom is from S’pore. Is it a cake unique to Penang that outsiders don’t know about? I would have thought I’d have had this when I was young. Umm. Anyway, looks simple and elegant.
@Elenor, the kuih/cake is not unique in Penang. It is widely available in Penang.
I love cassava too, my mother used to make a cassava dessert by boiling cassava, sugar + water, so good. The texture is definitely stickier than sweet potatoes and I remember has lots more fiber. Love this kuih bengka.
Hi Bee and Madam Kwong,
This recipe looks amazing. Can’t wait to try it out. It’s similar to a cassava bibingka recipe my mom got from a Filipino coworker but that recipe has a LOT of butter, lol.
Thank you~… hope you do try it out.
Kuih bingka is one of the most delightful and authentic nyonya kuih. It looks great, Mdm Kwong!
Thanks, petite nyonya ^.~
Can you please translate the measurements (kg, tin, grams) to cups? Thank you.
One cup is approximately 250g. The one tin of coconut milk is 2 cups but you’ll be adding water, making a litre in total. Hope that helps.
It’s possible to use cooked cassava (the root)? Or should I use only cassava starch?
hello Issac, you have to use freshly grated cassava/tapioca.
But cassava is a root (Manihot esculenta) while the tapioca is only the starch made from this root. By the way, tapioca come from the tupi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tupi)word “tipioca” and it refers to the process through which cassava is made edible.
Looks delicious. Is it possible to use tapioka starch instead of grated cassava?
Hi Christianti, you can’t use tapioca starch. It has to be freshly grated cassava/tapioca.
Hi Madam Kwong,
Where can I find fresh tapioca in Australia. I’m in Brisbane.
Thanks
hmm.. I would try any major Asian Grocery. I found some in Vietnamese Grocery. Good luck!
Can I use sago pearls in this recipe instead of finely grated cassava?
Hi DJ,
Actually.. No, you shouldn’t use sago pearls. Then, it wouldn’t be the traditional Kuih Bengka ;)
I came across your blog, i think your blog is interesting, keep us posting.
I want to start my first site, what cms do you use and recommend for me ?
This is powered by WordPress. Good luck.
Madam Kwong, to clarify, the cassava is the tapioca root, right? and by grated cassava, it is uncooked?
Looks simple enough to make with the limited ingredients available here. Very excited to try.
THank you!!
Yes, cassava is the root of tapioca and the grated cassava is uncooked. Good luck and let us know how you did ^^
Excellent post i am sure that i will come back here soon
Oh, I ate many of these delicious cakes when I was in Singapore – these are so tasty!
nice food…i like it
Is the grated coconut crucial for this recipe? I love in Switzerland and can only find dehydrated grated coconut- not like the real thing at all. Any tips?
Yes, it is crucial to use grated coconut. Using the coconut, it brings out the fragrance of the kuih. I could suggest using milk but it still won’t be authentic. Good luck!
This seems a very tasty recipe! Can I substitute tapioca with potato? I will have to go round looking for tapioca! What other vegetables is it possible to make this with? Thanks!
I think potato would be too starchy. I’ve never tried other vegetables. Tapioca is key to this recipe.
Hello!
Beautiful looking cakes! I don’t have an oven, can I still make these in a pressure cooker?
thanks!
Christina
Unfortunately, you can’t use a pressure cooker. You won’t be able to get the top crusty effect.
i use frozen grated cassava from asian market…i use 2 bags, 2 eggs, 1 stick butter melted,1 can coconut milk,1 cup sugar,1 can drained and sliced riped jacfruit and 1 small bottle of coconut sport string.mix them together and baked for 45 minutes 350 degree.then use the broiler at low temp for 6 minutes to brown the top.( butter the pan of course first)
What’s with the incredibly stupid questions in here? “Can I use potato?” “Can I cook it in a pressure cooker?” Jeez, people, you can’t be serious.
Anyways, I made this and it took about an hour to crack, skin and grate the cassava and coconut. It’s quite a lot of work if you don’t have a processor and/or are doing it for the first time. Make sure you grate the cassava and coconut finely, though, or it’ll come out lumpy. I didn’t have a scale so I did about a cup of coconut and 4 cups of grated cassava at 350 Fahrenheit. 4 cups of sugar was too much in my opinion, I’ll scale that down next time.
Madam Kwong, if it is not unique in Penang, you meant it’s widely available in Malaysia?
I am so making this tomorrow along with the Sweet Peanut soup, wow, I love the way this looks, I know cassava is Yuca Root for me but I am trying to figure out where to get it here where I live…I am sure must be boxed and dry, or can I use fresh Yuca Root? Let me go back to the recipe…lol…in the meantime it LOOKS DELICIOUS!!!
I just wanted to say your website is one of the nicely laid out, most inspirational I have come across in quite a while. Thx! :)
I was so looking forward to making this cassava cake,but disappointed it didn’t work.In Australia,so don’t know where to get freshly grated coconut.Used frozen grated cassava and also dried shredded coconut.I thought the recipe didn’t have enough flour, like how is it going to become a cake. It took me 2.5hrs and still ended with a very soft cake.slice came out not firm,falls apart still moist.And the shredded coconut I used was a mistake,couln’t really taste the cassava, could only mostly taste the shredded coconut and sugar.
Please advise.
Erica, if you’re from Victoria, you can get frozen grated cassava and coconut in the Asian stores in Springvale market. It tastes as good as the freshly grated one.
Hi,
Does the cake has to be cooked in a oven for 2 hours? I know it seems ridiculous but I want to speed up the process because I want to cook this for my project. Is there any way to halve this time or what?
Thanks!
cassava and tapioca is not the same right??? im confused and i really want to try this recipe….
I’m very impressed + your recipes make my mouth watery. Unfortunately I’m living in Bielefeld/Germany where all these goodies aren’t available. Left Pg. in 1970 + visit Pg. every few years except for the last 5 years, I’ve been back almost every year. I’ll be there again this Dec. Is it possible that I come once to watch when you are making any of the listed kuih?
Thanks in advance. Sue
thanks to Bee and madamkwong,
i love all the nyonya recipe especially nyonya kueh. The recipe given looks so simple and easy to make. thanks a lot
This recipi is just so simple and deliciously good. I made a success the first time baking it. Though I think the sugar can be scaled down a little but it all depends on personal sweetness preference. The banana leaves does give a fragant aroma to it. Unless you have difficulties finding it, I don’t recommend compromising that.
hi thanks for the blog.
sO HAPPY THAT I CAN TRY YOUR NYONYA KUIH RECIPE. iF THERE IS ANY FAILURE OR DOUBTS CAN I GET ADVICE FROM YOU. HOW DO I CONTACT YOU. TK U
You can contact Madam Kwong. She is the one who did this recipe. :)
Great site you have here, it’s nice to see someone else thinking like me..
Great website you have, I’ll definitely come back to check up on more of your posts.
@Ling or Madam Kwong can you please share the correct ingredients in cups instead of kg and grams. I searched the internet and it is telling me for the cassava part it would be 5 cups and for the coconut milk it will be 2 cups of water and for grated coconut it will be 2 cups. Can you cofirm that that would be correct before I attempt to make this. Thanks for your help.
One can easily get fresh frozen grated cassava/tapioca in North America that are imported from the Philippines. It’s about C$1.20 for a 1 lb bag. Add a tin of coconut milk of 400 grams, 1 cup of sugar, 2 Tbs of flour, 2 eggs beaten, 2 oz butter, 3 Tbs of fresh milk, pinch of salt and very important to add few tabls of grated dessicated coconut. Mix all together(no heating necessary)Bake in hot oven at 400F for about 1 hour and 15 minutes depending if you use glass or tin container. It;s a recipe given to me more than 23 years ago.
Hi forgot to post my email so anyone can respond to tjlen8392@yahoo.com
Thanks again and the picture looks so delicious. I can’t wait to try it out.
Thank you so very much for this wonderful web site! I have been craving for Kuih Dadar and Kuih Bengka ever since I moved to US 26 years ago from Singapore. I am so glad I found this site. Lots of wonderful recipes! Keep it up and appreciate your sharing of Nyonya, Malaysian food!
Hi
The oven temperature for the recipe is for celcius or Fahrenheit? Seems quite low for Fahrenheit but it also seems like a long time in the oven so can you please clarify. Thanks.
I live in Los Angeles and have all the ingredients ready to make it tomorrow for my daughters school bake sale. These American kids including mine have never tasted anything like benkang ever in their lives. They’ll be blown away. I’m an expert at making kuih dadar now after many trial and errors. My wife and kids love it.
One last thing, I’m planning on blending some pandan leaves for its juice and mixing it into the bengkang recipe. I simply love pandan and it’s flavor along with its rich earthy green color. What do you think?
dear all,,
i nid double confrim the topiaca,
is 1kg before grated or not grated.
my place cant get grated wan..
I’ve seen packaged peeled whole cassava in Asian grocery stores before. It’s probably packed in water of some sort. Would that do for grating? I’ve never really touched it before so I’m not too sure about it’s consistency or if it’s been cooked or not.
Hi. 4 cups of sugar seem a lot! Will it affect the texture if I reduce the sugar to 2 cups?