January 28, 2018, 04:17 AM 
A stall in Toa Payoh Lorong 7 hawker centre specialises in making yi bua, a rather obscure Hainanese kueh.
The stall, Hainan Xiaochi, is known for relying on painstakingly making their kueh by hand after all these years, and it clearly shows in their quality.
It has been featured in the local media and even gained recognition for its efforts in preserving local food traditions.
Explosion of flavours
From the looks of it, yi bua, with its glutinous rice flour skin and banana leaf wrap, looks pretty normal.
The yi bua filling giving you the yi bua feeling. Photo by Jiahui Wee.
The inside filling, however, is an explosion of flavours made possible by a combination of shredded coconut, ground peanut, gula melaka, sesame seeds, ginger, and dried persimmon.
The filling is sweet, but you can expect a mild, spicy kick courtesy of the ginger.
The owner of the stall Hainan Xiaochi, graciously shared their recipe with us, hoping that this would bring greater awareness of Hainanese heritage food in Singapore.
The Goh family from left to right: Susan Goh, Mdm Yeoh Min Lin, Simon Goh, and Goh See Mui. The family has been running Hainan Xiaochi for more than 40 years. Image by Jiahui Wee.
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Ingredients you need
For the dough:
- Glutinous rice flour, 900g
- Water, 500ml
- Peanut oil, 100ml
For the filling:
- Water, 50ml
- Brown sugar, 300g
- Gula melaka (palm sugar), 50g, coarsely chopped
- Grated fresh coconut, 450g
- Old ginger, 50g - 70g, peeled and grated medium-fine
- White sesame seeds, 50g
- Ground peanuts, 50g
- Dried persimmon, 1 piece, coarsely chopped
For the wrapping:
- Banana leaves, cut into strips (25cm x 8cm)
- Peanut oil
Method
- Combine glutinous rice flour, oil, and water in a mixing bowl.
- Use your hand to knead until a dough forms and then set aside.
- Elsewhere, add water, brown sugar, and gula melaka in a pan.
- Heat the pan on medium-low heat until sugar and gula melaka dissolves into syrup.
- Stir in the ginger, dried persimmon, grated fresh coconut and mix until well-combined.
- Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool before pouring into dry, clean bowl.
- Add white sesame seeds and ground peanuts.
- Divide the dough into 20 equal pieces.
- Divide the filling into 20 portions.
- Dry the banana leafs and brush with peanut oil.
- Wrap each portion of filling with a piece of dough, forming a slightly flattened ball.
- Wrap each ball with a banana leaf strip.
- Steam the yi bua over medium heat for 18 minutes.
- Remove yi bua from heat and brush with peanut oil on the surface; let it cool a little before serving.
Photo by Jiahui Wee.
Top image by Jiahui Wee.
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