Fa Gao (Huat Kueh)

With my boy going into Primary School in 2 years time, I have to start thinking about which school to put him.  So decided to put him in the school which is only 2 busstop away.  As a kiasu parents like many others, I decided to work as a parent volunteers, so as to secure a place for him as well as for me to find out more about the school so that I can make a better decision on whether this school is right for him.

Today, I'm starting my first day as a PV to help their school in their Little Planters programme.  Beside this, I have also volunteer to be involved in their Racial Harmony day, which we are supposed to provide samples of traditional food items for the kids to try out.  So, I volunteered to make Fa Gao as searching the internet, Fa Gao seems to be a relatively easy item to make in large quantity.  So, for the pass 2 weeks, I have be experimenting on Fa Gao recipe.  Stumble upon, this one from the following blog:
http://hutofcranberry.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html

Fa Gao Recipe


Original Version:

•  250g sifted Self-raising flour
• 200g Brown sugar
• 220g Coconut Milk (½coconut, mixed with 100g water, Squeezed out coconut milk)

 Hut of Cranberry's Modified Version:

• 250g sifted Self-raising flour
• 170g Dark Brown sugar
• 250g Fresh Packed Coconut Milk (you can get it from NTUC or supermarkets)

 Method:

1. Mix Self-raising flour & Dark Brown sugar into a mixing bowl.
2. Add in Coconut milk and mix until well-combined.
3. Line aluminum cup with paper cup.
4. Pour batter into cup till 90% full, steam with high heat for 15 minutes.

I decided to give it a try.  I wanted to buy ready made Coconut milk (so I don't need to spend too much time squeeze coconut) and found this NTUC Fairprice housebrand of Coconut Cream.  I'm not sure what's the different between Cream or Milk, but instead of the 250ml milk stated in her recipe, I added 200ml of the Coconut Cream and have to add an additional 100ml of water so as to get the batter to reach the desired consistency.  I also simmer the coconut cream with a leaf of Pandan leaf to make the Fa Gao smell nicer. Luckily, my Fa Gao open up really nicely.  However, I do find that it's a little too dense for my liking but my mom said the traditional Fa Gao should be dense like this.  I'm going to try making Fa Gao again this weekend using a different brand of Coconut milk and see how it turns out....keeping my finger crossed that my Fa Gao will "Huat" this time round.  Here's how it looks like: