Of Chinese New Year and Kuih Ros

the iron mould 

kuih ros / kuih goyang / kuih loyang / beehive or honeycomb biscuit

 Chinese New Year was awesome and fun this Year of the Water Dragon, which explains my absence from blogging and for that I apologise beforehand. I was a little too occupied as a driver as we went house hopping from family, to friends and even school teachers' houses. As Malaysians, our presence was welcomed by all. We Malaysians are cool like that. Not too mention, 'ang pow' (red packet) collection this year was not too shabby, my sisters and I noted.



As we were enjoying, I observed several similarities between most of the household we visited.

1. the obvious red packet which is a symbolism of good luck.
2. chrysanthemum drinks, probably to cool down as the weather was unbearably hot
3. Mandarin Oranges, duh... CNY and all...
4. Kuih Ros

Entry number 4 was what that puzzled me the most. The sweet and crunchy kuih ros. I've seen during Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Christmas and even Hari Raya. Where did the 'kuih ros' come from? I'm not sure if it is a Chinese, Indian, Malay or Eurasian delicacy, so i did some investigating.

A biscuit with many names. Some call it kuih loyang, kuih goyang, kuih rose, beehive or plain old honeycomb biscuit. This is a very popular cookie for Chinese New Year.

Rosettes or kuih ros are a traditional pastry in Turkey and Malaysia. A rosette is a thin, cookie-like deep-fried pastry of Scandinavian (Swedish and Norwegian) origin. Rosettes are traditionally made during Christmas time. They are made using intricately designed irons. The iron is heated to a very high temperature in oil, dipped into the batter, then re-immersed in the hot oil to create a crisp shell around the metal. The iron is immediately removed and the rosette is separated from the iron. Usually, the edges of the rosette are dipped into frosting or sugar. Rosette recipes are popular in the United States among families with Scandinavian ancestry.

These pastries are also made in Iran, where they are called "nan panjara", and Mexico where they're called "Buñuelos".

Never would I have imagined that our kuih ros originated from the European continent. Oh well, as I love this kuih very much, I'm going to include the recipe which I got from my mum who got it from her aunt before that. I'm pretty sure I'll pass the recipe down tho my next geneartion comes. So, here is the recipe. Please do try and let me know how it turns out.

Rosette, a Scandinavian pastry

 Buñuelos, a Mexican pastry

Makes about 16 biscuits (mum gave small measurements as I just learnt how to make this for the first time)

Ingredients
1 small egg (45g with shell, 40g without)
35g sugar
100ml coconut milk
60g plain flour
25g rice flour
1 tsp water

Method
1. Mix all the ingredients together until the sugar is dissolved. Sieve if the batter is lumpy. Rest batter for at least ½ hour.

2. Heat your oil in a deepfryer or wok and place the mould in it to get it hot.

3. Remove mould from hot oil and stick it into the batter to get a coating. (Do not allow the top of the mould to come into contact with the batter.) You will hear a sizzle. Hold still for a second or two to give the batter a chance to adhere to the mould.

4. Place the mould back into the hot oil. Hold still for a second or two and then start jiggling the mould to get the biscuit to drop.

5. Deep fry until both side is golden brown. Remove and leave to cool.

6. Repeat step 3 until all the batter is finished.

7. Store in an airtight container.

Tip

1. I find the first biscuit will always stick to the mould and will need to be scrapped off. Once that is out of the way, the rest of the kuih will drop off the mould into the hot oil very easily.

2. The biscuit can be lightly dusted with icing sugar before storing.

XIN NIAN KUAI LE, WANG SHI RU YI