During my recent trip to Kedah, I tried kuih karas, the northern Malaysian state's food icon. Kuih karas is a tiny fan shaped biscuit, fried till golden brown. It is brittlely crispy, wiry, crunchy and tastes mainly sweet.
The snack is mainly found in Kedah though it has spread all over the Malaysia through the centuries. Mainly known as kuih karas in Malaysia, it is also called kuih sarang semut (ant nest cake) and kuih jala (net cake).
The batter is made of water, sugar, rice flour and corn flour (sometimes other optional flavours such as vanilla powder, coconut powder, etc are added). The desired batter texture is smooth flowing but not runny, and certainly not doughy.
The batter is ladled into a perforated cup - traditionally made with a coconut shell with holes at the bottom (this is still used in villages today).
The batter flows through the holes directly into an oil filled wok. The chef waves the perforated cup deftly over the wok of hot oil at 200°C, dribbling the batter in streams into the wok in a smooth circular movement.
There are many possibilities and creative improvisations for making the perforated cup but the principle is always the same.
Recycled from a tin can.
Fabricated from an empty plastic soda bottle.
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| Making kuih karas at Farmstay Relau, Bandar Baharu, Kedah |
The strings of batter form a lacey pancake in the hot oil. The lacey pancake sizzles in the hot oil and turns golden brown.
While still hot and pliable, the lacey pancake is folded into a tiny fan shape. Two folds are required.
The fan shape biscuit is allowed to drain and cool.
When the tiny lacey fan cools, it stiffens and hardens into a wiry, crackly, crisp, crunchy biscuit.
Kuih karas is a light sweet snack enjoyed with coffee or tea. It is used to welcome guests who visit during festive occasions like Hari Raya but can be served anytime guests visit. Kuih karas is sold throughout the year in markets such as Alor Setar's Pekan Rabu, so kuih karas can be eaten at anytime.
Origins of Kuih Karas
Sri Lanka, Aceh (Indonesia) and Kedah (Malaysia) are on a straight line route across the Andaman sea. Traders from South India rode the trade winds travelling east in search of spices and trading partners (such as Chinese). The nearest landfall are north Sumatra (Aceh) and north Malaya (Kedah), so naturally these are sites of earliest Indian influence in the Malay Archipelago.
Sri Lakan Aasmi
The Sri Lakan aasmi could be the mother of kuih karas.
Aasmi batter is made by blending okra (lady fingers) juice or alternatively cinnamon leaf juice, coconut milk, and rice flour. It is mixed to the same consistency and flowing smoothness as kuih karas batter.
Like kuih karas, the batter is transferred into a perforated cup and it is dribbled over a wok of boiling hot oil to make a wiry net just like kuih karas.
But the aasmi net pancake is bigger and made only one at a time in the wok. The wiry net pancake is also folded over only once. So, aasmi is a relatively large semicircular biscuit.
The aasmi is rested for a few days and refried just before serving.
That means aasmi travel well. Could ancient Indians carried aasmi with them on board boats when they crossed the Andaman Sea from South India to North Sumatra / North Malaya?
A sweet syrup is made separately with sugar, water and colouring.
The colourful sweet syrup is spooned over the aasmi before serving. It adds colour to the plain looking pancake as well as provides an additional layer of sweetness.
Aasmi is served during celebrations such as New Year, birthdays and anniversaries.
Keukarah from Aceh, Indonesia
The west coast of Aceh in North Sumatra has a snack known as keukarah. It is also known as kue sarang burung or bird's nest cake.
Like kuih karas, keukarah batter is made with water, rice flour and sugar. It is made in the same way as kuih karas and aasmi - the batter is passed through a perforated container into boiling hot oil to make a crisp lacey net pancake. The flat pancake is folded over only once to make a semi circular shape.
A keukarah is usually the size of a man's open palm.
Sometimes it is the size of a small pillow. Keukarah is sweet from the caramelised sugar in the rice flour batter.
It is served during special occasions like festivals, anniversaries, weddings and even funerals. In Aceh, the groom will send keukarah to the bride's family. On ordinary days, it enjoyed with hot coffee or tea as snack. Visitors to Aceh often buy keukarah to bring home as gifts for family and friends.
Kue Sarang Semut in East Kalimantan
In the East Kalimantan regencies of West Kutai, Kutai Kartanegara, East Kutai and Berau, there's kue sarang semut or ant nest cake in Indonesian. Its ingredients, tools and making process are very similar to kuih kakas, keukarah and aasmi.
(According to inscriptions on the stones found in West Kutai, Indian traders were here since 400 CE. Could this be the time kue sarang semut arrived in Kutai / Berau?)
Rice flour is mixed with sugar syrup (and food colour) to make a drooling (but not watery) dough / batter. The smooth flowing dough is passed through a perforated coconut shell directly into a wok of hot oil.
While the resulting net pancake is still in the wok of hot oil, it is rolled into a lacey roll (which differs from the fan shaped kuih karas, and semi circular kuekarah and aasmi).
The similarities between Sri Lanka's aasmi with keukarah of Aceh, kue sarang semut of East Kalimantan and kuih karas of Kedah suggest that they are likely to be interlinked and brought by Indian traders from South India to the Malay Archipelago.
Have you tried kuih karas, keukarah, kue sarang semut or aasmi?
Besides Sri Lanka, Kedah, Kalimantan and Aceh, where else can we find a similar dish or snack?
You can also find this in Tg Pinang. My mother's side of the family comes from there and they used to bring it to us in Singapore. The one there uses coconut milk, so its lemak.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the lead
DeleteFaizah Bamadhaj said on Johor Kaki Facebook:
ReplyDelete"Or perhaps the Malays who were posted to Sri Lanka (Ceylon) during the war brought with them.
A bit of trivia - While living in Sydney, I met a lady & her daughter who told me they are Malays from Sri Lanka, to my surprise she was speaking Malay to me. She was wearing a batik kebaya & told me she has never been to Malaysia. Her dad was in the Malay Regiment sent to Ceylon many years ago & he settled there with his family."
Chan YH said on Johor Kaki Facebook:
ReplyDelete"This resembles the putu mayam in Singapore-South Malaysia , which is directly from Tamil Nadu."
Icee Chua said on Johor Kaki Facebook:
ReplyDelete"They used to be commonly sold at Larkin, and can find them also at Melaka Jonker Street too. For SG, only during CNY will you be able to find it these days."
Sarawak have a similar kuih called kuih jala.
ReplyDelete