Tuesday 12 October 2010

Custard pie?

My wife, who is an artistic and culinary genius, experimented over the weekend in making pulut tekan, a glutinous rice based pudding from the tradition of Malay/Nyonya/Peranakan cuisine (I can't really do justice to this cuisine in a few sentences, if you're interested look here.) These cakes (puddings really) are served in bite sized cubes. What was interesting about this particular kuih is the unusual colouring.

The initial block after steaming with blue marbling running through it.

The colour is completely natural and is infused from the petals of a species of sweet-pea called bunga telang. Incidentally there is also a kuih called seri muka that is bright green due to the pandanus extract used for flavouring. I've contemplated cajoling the wife into making a blue-green kuih combo and bringing it in to work to terrify all my Swiss colleagues!

Cut-up into bite size cubes. She used a Teflon coated ceramic knife which prevented sticking (from the glutinous rice) giving nice, clean edges.

So whither the custard pie in the blog title, I hear you ask, gentle reader? Well the botanical name of bunga telang, the source of the blue dye, is Clitoria due to a certain, ahem, anatomical resemblance.

Having seen actual flowers in the.....errr.....flesh I can vouch for the similarity

But, I hear you ask again gentle reader, whither the custard pie in the title? Well, I'm getting to it. The unexpected juxtaposition of a sweet dessert with pudenda brought to mind the immortal words of Robert Plant

Your custard pie, yeah, sweet and nice
When you cut it, mama, save me a slice
Your custard pie, I declare, it's sweet and nice
I like your custard pie
When you cut it, mama... mama, please save me a slice.

I'd sure like a piece of your custard pie
I'd sure like a piece of your custard pie
I'd sure like a piece of your custard pie
I'd sure like a piece of your custard pie

And no, I assure you it isn't petit fours that he was singing about.

Gratuitous image of Robot Planet, co-writer of the rock classic "Hairway to Steven"

No comments:

Post a Comment