Steamed White Sugar Sponge Cake (Pak Tong Gou) - The Easy Way Out

As promised, this is the recipe which I adopted online for the classic Pak Tong Gou. This one is very easy to deal with and almost impossible to fail. Trust me. I know it may sound too good to be true but then again, tried and tested with photo as proof. So now, go ahead and give it a go. All you need it 2 hours to impress your family or friends. I always thought this would be a very nice thing to make especially if you have moved overseas and with kids born overseas. It can be difficult to show them the culture of where you come from, especially if you're an Asian like me, someone who is still very homesick at the moment. This make delicious breakfast and snack. By the way, I'm going Japanese today. Will try make some Japanese Green Tea Sponge Cake later. Don't worry, if all goes well which I really hope so, I'll be posting some photos and of course, the recipe ;) Good day!

Ingredients:

• 280g Rice Flour


• 200g White Sugar (adjust to taste)


• Pinch of salt


• 600ml water


• 3 Pandan leaves (optional)


• 1 teaspoon yeast diluted with 3 tablespoons warm water (water cannot be too hot as it will kill the yeast, a bit over room temperature is good)


• 1/2 tablespoon of vegetable oil
  

Method:

1. Add 300ml of water to rice flour and mix well.


2. Boil the remaining 300ml of water with sugar, salt and Pandan leaves. Pour syrup into rice flour mixture stir well and set aside to cool.


3. Dissolve yeast with warm water and mix into the cooled rice mixture. Stir until well incorporated, cover and leave to ferment for 2 hours in warm place until small bubbles appear on top.


4. Set steamer on high, place an 8” pan (square or round) in steamer and let it steam for 5 minutes on high before adding the fermented rice mixture into the pan.


5. Add ½ tablespoon of oil to fermented rice mixture, stir well and pour into heated pan. Let it steam for 20 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when tested.


6. Let it cool completely before cutting and serve. (Oh yea, while it's cooling, you may wanna brew some coffee to go with it. Perfect match, especially a cup of long black)