Kuih Cara is a type of kuih origin from Malaysia.

It has two varieties with two different tastes, sweet for Kuih Cara Manis and savoury for Kuih Cara Berlauk.

The basic ingredients for Kuih Cara are coconut milk, wheat flour, egg, salt, water and cooking oil.

The batter to make these are the same except the colour, shape and fillings of the kuih are different.

During good old days, Malay used coconut husk and charcoal as fuel to cook the kuih.

Now it is much easier, that we cooked it on a stove with a low heat.

Preparation before cooking the kuih

To prepare the mould, it needs to be preheated on the stove and grease it with cooking oil.

I used pandan brush for that.

Next, we must ensure the mould is very hot before adding the batter.

When I placed the pandan brush on the hot mould, there will be hissing sounds coming from it. From there I know that the mould is hot for me to pour the batter.

The batter takes approximately ten minutes to cook and the kuih need to take out using fork.

The process continued until the batter finish.

This are the basic of making Kuih Cara.

Here I will be explaining in details about two types of Kuih Cara.

Kuih Cara Manis

Manis is referring to sugar that being added later in the batter when we cook.

This is one of kuih that we do not add sugar while mixing the batter.

Thus, the amount of sugar can be adjusted per liking.

For Kuih Cara Manis, normally the color is green.

In order to get the beautiful green colour I mixed pandan juice and two drops of green food colouring while mixing the batter.

To get the shape of the Kuih Cara Manis, we cook it in oval shape mould.

As for way to serve, we usually place two Kuih Cara Manis on top of each other.

Kuih Cara Berlauk

Lauk referring to the filling that we are going to used compared to using sugar in Kuih Cara Manis

The savoury filling is using minced meat cooked with garlic, red onion and curry paste.

As you can see, we also add a slice of chilli and Chinese celery (daun sup) that being added later.

Kuih Cara Berlauk has yellow colour and usually we used flowery shape mould to accommodate the rich filling.  

The way we served Kuih Cara Berlauk is we display it as a single kuih.

These traditional kuih using basic ingredients and simple method that can be made at home.

The Kuih Cara Manis suitable for kids while Kuih Cara Berlauk for adults. It can be enjoyed at tea time.

Recipe Kuih Cara Manis

Ingredients

• 5-6 pandan leaves 
• 1 ¼ cup of water
• 2 cup wheat flour 
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups of coconut milk 
• ½ teaspoon of salt 
• A few drops of green food colouring 

Instructions 

Cut the pandan leaves with scissors and blend the pandan leaves using water.

Blend until it is fine in texture. 

Then, strain to take the pandan juice only.

Take 1 cup of pandan juice and add in a food blender.

Add on the wheat flour, eggs, coconut milk and green food colouring in this order.

Then, add two more tablespoons of pandan juice. 

Blend the batter.

Strain the batter to remove any clump and pour it into a bowl.

For bake

Preheat the mould on the kitchen stove.

I layer the mould using cooking oil. I used pandan leaves as brush to add fragrance in the oil.

When the mould is really hot, take two tablespoon of the batter and pour in the mould.

The batter produced hissing sound becomes the mould is really hot.

Let it cook for a while and add ¼ teaspoon of sugar to each batter.

Let it cover using a pot lid.

Wait for it to cook and use a fork to remove it out.