www.sgkueh.com

Address 02-122 Amoy Street Food Centre - 3020 Ubi Ave2, 01-105

Opening Hours - Amoy Street (daily 9am-3pm) - Ubi (9am-3pm, Mon to Sat)

Here’s a hawker who has no idea how he arrived here today as one of the best kueh peddlers in town. He never knew how kuehs and desserts were made before. He just knew he had to meander through his dark days of bankruptcy.

So he quit his property sales job, which broke his bank account, and decided to return to basics…hawking food. He chose to sell desserts and kuehs, but didn’t know how to do it and was absolutely clueless. He sort of “remembered my father’s or nee taste and tried to replicate it.” and he failed miserably adding “ I copied his traditional method by using lard but it was not well received by these CBD crowd.” So he switched to vegetable oils and kept that rich smooth texture so well loved, especially by women (a casual observation at any lunch hour at his stall,will tell you so), by or nee connoisseurs.

He struck jackpot. The queues formed, the cash register rung incessantly and a year in to his business in 2005, Michael Tan was officially discharged as a bankrupt.

At his little but packed in www.sgkueh.com stall at Amoy Street, he reminded me to “ please include the www as it’s part of the official business name”, cleverly revealing that “ it’s catchy and easier to remember.” Today he touts up to 18 types of desserts and kuehs and has gained that entrepreneurial confidence peppered with a hint of combative-ness.

Once, a competitor nearby copied and sold his top seller or nee (yam paste), made it visually similar and even used the same packaging. To add insult, they sold it cheaper. Michael retaliated by selling their blue plate special, tau suan (mung bean dessert) and red bean soup. He did not do very well with it and he chanced upon the idea of turning it into, what else..kueh. Now, his rare, in fact I’ve heard of no other similar versions, tau suan and red bean kuehs are one of his top sellers. When I bit into them, it looked and tasted like one albeit in an addictively strange kueh texture. Some of his fail safe items:

Or Nee (sweet yam paste)
He uses only the Thai yams as “they are the best for or nee and the ones that give me that “ cheaaaaaah” sound when I chop the stem, is the perfect one.” Though he shies from using lard, he retains the thick smoothness and that hint of savoury sweetness which comes from frying the paste with some onion oils. He tops it with gingko nuts and mashed pumpkin. It’s his killer application at the stall and he uses about 50kgs of yam each day. He scores highly here as it is not too sweet, is thick, smooth and tuber-ly.

Onde Onde (sweet potato balls with gula melaka)
He knew he had to beat the Maxwell Food Centre competitor if he was to make any headway with it. So he used more sweet potato and less flour and rolled it well as “the Maxwell one sometimes leaked and it was not pleasant to bite into.”. Like them, Michael ensures that each onde is made on the spot and knows that this “performance cooking’ assures the customers that they get the freshest. You can taste just how much sweet potato mash is used. I like his pure and creamless D24 durian version.

Lopez (triangular rice flour kueh with gula melaka)
He tried it at hotel buffet once and was intrigued by how they were wrapped in leaves for added aroma. So he bought some home and did some reverse engineering in the kitchen. I find favour with the fact that he soaks the glutinous grains in pandan juice before packing them into banana leaves for steaming. But I find the grains not as tightly pressed –as how the Indonesian would do it and the kueh texture was lost and the grains had the lor mai fan feel. He cooks the gula melaka sauce with pandan and it comes lighter and not cloyingly sweet.

Tau suan and red bean kueh
The red bean kueh had just the correct amount of coconut to give it body but not the heaviness. The beans were not overcooked and it gave nice texture to the bite. The tau suan kueh, according to some of his customers, were so right that they felt the need for him to include yu cha kway with it.

Kueh Kosui (brown sugar glutinous flour cake)
It’s softer than usual and not overly sweet and blessed with enough fresh grated coconut. Once he sent it to an auntie to get her expert opinion. She thumbed it down and he responded by not talking to her ever since!