Chai Kueh Rhapsody

I had once made good Chai Kueh, but after not having made it for nearly six years, my skill had almost become blunted. Craving for the taste of home-made Chai Kueh, I decided to end my hiatus one Friday. However, due to lack of practice, it took me three days to remaster it.

The first day I made the traditional delicacy, I dusted the dough with so much tapioca starch that it was difficult to seal the skin. After steaming, the skin cracked and the filling was exposed. How disappointing. The failure gave me some mullygrubs.

The next day, I rallied my shredded confidence and made it again. Alas! This time I mixed the rice flour with too much boiling water and it became too sticky to form a dough. Running out of tapioca starch, I dusted the mushy dough with a lot of wheat flour and it finally stopped sticking to the hand. However, the dough became more delicate and it cracked worse than that of the first day.

I posted my failure on Facebook and it garnered a lot of positive responses.Taking cues from some useful suggestions, and armed to the teeth with an unyielding spirit, I gave myself one more chance, perhaps the final one. I measured the amounts of rice flour and water carefully, making sure they were equal. When the water started boiling, I put the rice flour into a pan and gave it a slow stir, resulting in a soft, lumpy mass. Then, I transferred it to a standard steel bowl, drizzled a lot of cooking oil onto it and kneaded until a smooth, pliable dough was formed. Next, I dusted the dough with a few spoonfuls of tapioca starch before shaping it into a cylinder. I cut the cylinder into ten to twelve cubes and rolled them out one by one. 

To make my job more efficient, I oiled and reoiled both of my palms so that I could work with each rolled-out dough easily. I gently spooned in the filling and folded the skin over, pinching along both ends to seal. I did not grapple with the hassle I had experienced for the past two days - the cracking of the skin. Confident to the brim, I steamed all the sealed pieces of Chai Kueh and they were done in ten minutes. The result? Blessed Alleluia, all the twelve pieces of Chai Kueh were smooth and glossy. I dug in after glazing each with a thin layer of cooking oil. The taste? Heavenly.

The three different experiences had taught me an important lesson - failure is the king of success!