22-Year-Old Sells Authentic Ang Ku Kueh & Muah Chee Pounded With Wooden Stick

In the 1960s, Shiny’s grandmother was a street vendor selling eggs. The immigrant from Swatow in Guangdong Province soon started selling handmade Teochew kueh such as soon kueh to earn some extra money. According to Shiny, her grandmother decided against setting up a physical store as she wanted to prioritise looking after her children and grandchildren. “My dad always jokes that I’ve now come full circle, by doing the same thing my ah ma (grandmother in Teochew) did to make a living,” says Shiny.

Shiny first started making kueh with her granny when she was in primary school. “Making kueh ended up being the thing to bridge the language and generational gap between me and my ah ma. She was getting on in years, so I took it as a chance to learn first-hand from someone with decades of experience.”

Shiny and her grandmother would make savory Teochew kueh like soon kueh, as well as sweet Teochew kueh like ang ku kueh and muah chee. “It takes me about seven to eight tries to nail the recipe and technique for each kueh”, she said.

According to Shiny, muah chee was the hardest to master, due to the technique involved. “My grandmother was the one who taught me how to pound muah chee by hand — she would always delegate that task to me as a young girl since she said I had more strength,” said Shiny with a laugh.

Last year, Shiny’s grandmother passed away at the age of 93, during Shiny’s final year at LASALLE College of the Arts. She managed to make kueh with her grandmother one final time, a few months before her passing.

“I had already decided that I wanted my final year project and dissertation to be on Chinese heritage food — so why not do something in memory of ah ma?”

Shiny started a series of kueh workshops, while using her graphic design skills to create digital marketing material for the campaign. Since her grandmother could not squat or stand for long periods, Shiny had already taken over much of the kueh-making processes when they made kueh together.

She also used her skills to design a hip booklet and a take-home soon kueh kit as part of the project. “I wanted to educate people — especially people my age — on just how much work goes into making something as under-appreciated as Teochew kueh.”

Prior to Circuit Breaker, she ran seven soon kueh workshops, attended mainly by millennials.

“I didn’t want my school project to end up as a one-off thing,” says Shiny, who started Ah Mah’s Legacy so that she could continue her kueh workshops. However, the circuit breaker in April derailed her plans. As such, Shiny pivoted to selling kueh through the Ah Ma’s Legacy Instagram page, opening her first batch of orders for ang ku kueh in early June.

“I was on my feet from 9am to 7pm that first day, trying to multitask between chopping ingredients, steaming potatoes for the dough, pulling the ang ku kueh from the steamer… I think I made over 200 ang ku kueh that day.”

For her second batch, all the slots were sold out within the day. Currently, she is focused on making muah chee, which she sells in weekly batches. Muah chee sales have been doing “pretty well” — though she believes that due to it’s short shelf life (compared to ang ku kueh), orders are filling up more slowly.

Graduating with a Bachelor’s of Design Communications in August, Shiny recently concluded a full-time graphic design internship at online pet shop Nekojam, alongside running Ah Mah’s Legacy. She is slated to start a full-time sales and marketing position at Superworld Electronics, and will continue to run Ah Ma’s Legacy on the side.

Due to the WFH situation, Shiny is able to make the kueh in her Yio Chu Kang house. Shiny does the bulk of the kueh-making, while her brother and mother help deliver orders if they are free. Her dad — who grew up eating his mother’s kueh — helps ensure each batch is up to standard. “My dad believes I’ve been able to nail the texture of my ah ma’s kueh. He also says that the taste and appearance [of my kueh] is a little better!”

“Kudos to my family, really. They’ve had my back through this whole process, and Ah Mah’s Legacy wouldn’t have made it this far without them.”

Made on the day of delivery itself, the ang ku kueh ("red tortoise shell-shaped cake) smell super fresh right out the box. Instead of just the usual pure glutinous rice flour, Shiny’s kueh skin is made from a mix of potato and glutinous rice flour, and is kneaded by hand to achieve a soft yet QQ texture.

Shiny sells two flavours, which can be purchased at $2 per piece. The schedule for orders is posted regularly on to the Ah Mah’s Legacy instagram page.

Her next order for ang ku kueh is slated to open in the second half of October — it’s now available as a monthly special, due to Shiny starting her full-time job in September. Each batch requires about three days of prep work, from preparing the fillings to moulding and steaming the kueh.

The ang ku kueh is best eaten within eight hours of delivery, but can be kept in the fridge for a week, and in the freezer for two weeks. Just steam them for at least 10 minutes before consuming.

A classic ang ku kueh flavour, the Peanut Gu Kueh is a take on one of our fave childhood snacks. The first thing that stands out is how incredibly soft the kueh skin is — this one has just a little bit of chew, before melting away on the tongue. Shiny uses orange sweet potato to give the ang ku kueh it’s hue, which also does double duty by increasing the moisture content in the dough. Alongside the usual suspects of sandy crushed peanuts, sugar, white sesame seeds and a touch of salt, Shiny’s take incorporates homemade peanut butter in the filling. This results in a sticky, salty-sweet and crunchy paste that’s rich in nutty flavour. We might even like this better than the traditional versions.

Super fragrant — Shiny blends coconut milk with pandan leaves from her garden, kneading it into the skin along with mashed Japanese yellow potato. The Coco Gu Kueh is moist with a filling of fresh shredded coconut and melted gula melaka, along with just the right balance of salty and sweet to highlight the robust palm sugar.

Both kuehs are brushed with a thin layer of homemade shallot oil, which imparts a glossy shine and light perfumed. In comparison to famous commercial brands like Poh Cheu and Ji Xiang, Shiny’s versions of peanut and coconut ang ku kueh boasts richer flavors and softer, smoother skin.

Muah chee is particularly close to Shiny’s heart, as it was the first kueh her grandmother taught her to make. That was her first experience making muah chee her granny’s way: by pounding it with a wooden stick (kinda like how Japanese mochi is traditionally made). Each batch takes a painstaking 10 to 30 minutes to pound, in order for the muah chee to attain its smooth, springy texture. Most regular muah chee recipes usually require simply pouring a batter into a steamer and cutting up the resulting dough to be tossed in chopped peanuts. Shiny’s method is way more hardcore.

“My ah ma thought I should learn, since I had a lot of strength as a young girl,” Shiny said with a laugh. “Even though making ang ku kueh is more time-consuming, prepping muah chee requires way more energy since I have to use brute strength!”

Shiny first mixes up glutinous rice flour and water into a dough, before rolling it into balls and boiling them — “sort of like making tang yuan”. After that, she pounds the boiled dough to achieve a glossy, chewy dough without having to add any tapioca or wheat starch. The muah chee is coated with fragrant homemade shallot oil before being tossed in its assorted toppings.

Ah Mah’s Legacy sells three flavours of muah chee, with orders opening every Friday at noon for 24 hours. The muah chee will be delivered the following Monday, and is best consumed within eight hours of delivery.

Each flavor comes in either 100g or 200g packs — the former serves one to two pax, while the latter serves three to four pax.

Generously coated in shallot oil before being tossed in crushed peanuts, white sesame, sugar and salt, the Classic Muah Chee is soft yet very elastic — with a texture superior to most store-bought muah chee we’ve had, which is less bouncy and occasionally stiff around the edges.

We can’t help comparing this to the famous Hougang 6 Miles Famous Muah Chee in Toa Payoh — this one is more sugary, which obscures the peanut flavour slightly, but still has an edge in terms of texture. We’d prefer it to be less sweet though, for the peanut flavour to shine through.

In line with its name (“orh” means black in Teochew), the Orh Muah Chee is coated in crushed toasted almonds, black sesame and sugar. Similar to the Peanut Muah Chee, this one is on the sweeter side, and is the lightest tasting of the three flavors. We’d love a more robust roasted sesame flavour — though its texture is still addictive.

Shiny wanted to try a flavour that was more contemporary, and she settled on roasted pistachio, sugar and Himalayan pink salt. The Salty Pistachio Muah Chee is the priciest of the three, due to the green nut’s high cost.

On first bite, the richness and fragrance of the pistachio pops. It’s more savoury than sweet, with the lemak pistachio and shallot oil’s savoriness complementing each other. The intense pop of nutty richness reminds us of a good quality pistachio gelato — in muah chee form.

We had our doubts about pistachio and muah chee, but this sure is worth trying.

Good ang ku kueh with super soft skin and rich filling — pity it’s only offered as a monthly special currently. For now, we’ll make do with Shiny’s delicious and unique pistachio muah chee. She aims to continue her kueh workshops as soon as the COVID-19 situation improves, and has plans to roll out more options such as soon kueh and png kueh on her menu in future.

Order here: @ahmahslegacy — check their IG a/c for updates on order openings. Islandwide delivery available for $5 flat fee.