Huat Kueh - 2nd Batch ^^

I tried to used up the balance pack of fresh coconut milk to steam my second batch of Huat Kueh aka Fa Guo (发糕). The label of this pack of fresh coconut indicates that we must consume within a week; so I thought it could wait for me second trial of my steam huat kueh. Well...guess what I saw when I was ready to add in to the second trials?? The coconut milk had this lumpy clog formed, and the rest of the milk became very watery.

Seeing that...my natural reaction was to smell the pack to check if the milk turns sour! I was lucky that coconut milk smelled alright so I proceeded to measure the mixture of lumpy and watery coconut milk to my flour mixture.

I have added one additional thing into the initial ingredients called for; that is one tsp of baking soda! Noo nooo...not my intention to modify the ingredients (but my mum's idea to do so). Recalled that day when I was happily telling my mum about my success of my first huat kueh trial, she asked if I added baking soda? According to her, she once commented to the store owner that her huat kueh were so nicely baked and asked if there were any secret to make them "Huat" nicely. My mum got the answer that adding a little baking soda could do the "miracle".

So... as you can see, my huat kueh indeed "bloom" higher than the first trial.

But... there was a setback for this second batch; it did not taste as good as the first trial. I immediately realised the fault lays on the coconut milk because I had scooped more of the watery coconut milk to the mixture. Therefore it only had this very mild coconut taste in it (*o*")

In the end, husband came up with the idea of eating the huat kueh with kaya instead. With the coconut milk mistake, I am sure my third batch would be nicely bloom and taste yummy! (-o-")