First published Dec 27th 2014

I attended my nephew’s holiday potluck party last weekend: “bring whatever food you wish to eat and share…home cooked Singapore food encouraged.” I like so many dishes from Singapore, which one should I bring? It has been a long time since I made Kueh Bengka Ubi, and it is so easy to make and so tasty, you can’t eat just one. Promise.

Updated Jun 7th 2020

My friend Lee Lee suggested straining the store bought grated casava to remove excess liquid. Texture of the kueh came out less squishy. That was a great tip!

• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 90 mins
• makes one 8″ by 8″ cake in a square pan

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs grated cassava (also known as tapioca, is available in 1 lb package in the frozen aisle from Chinese supermarket)
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 4 pandan leaves, cut into 4″ pieces and 50 ml water
• 220 g granulated sugar
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F.
2. Blend pandan leaves with 50 ml water in a blender. Strain for 20 ml of pandan extract. Stir into coconut milk. Set aaside.
3. Thaw and strain grated cassava to get rid of excess liquid.
4. Grease a 8″ x 8″ square baking pan with butter. Line the pan with parchment paper, leaving 1/2 ” flaps over the edges to lift the cake from the pan later.
5. Whisk sugar, cornflour, eggs, melted butter, vanilla essence, and salt in a heavy sauce pan until blended. Cook over medium heat until heated through and sugar dissolves.
6. Add coconut milk and stir well. Cook for another minute.
7. Pour coconut and egg mixture over strained cassava in a large mixing bowl and stir until blended.
8. Pour the cassava mixture into the lined square pan.
9. Bake at 350 degree F for 20 minutes till cake turns light brown.
10. Reduce the oven temperature to 275 degree F and bake for another 1 – 1 1/4 hour until the top of the cake is golden brown. Sometimes when I don’t have patience, I use the broiler to brown the top towards the end.
11. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Lift the cake from the baking pan using the flaps of the parchment paper and allow to cool completely before cutting.
12. Arrange the pieces nicely on banana leaves and serve with Chinese tea. Delicious!