Tutu Kueh

Tutu Kueh (Kueh Tutu, 嘟嘟糕) is a Singaporean sweet made by packing rice flour into small flower-shaped molds around a coconut or peanut filling and then steaming it. The outline of the mold appears on the white surface, and breaking a piece open reveals the sweet filling. Rather than being made from a kneaded dough stretched out like mochi, it is made by packing fine rice flour into a mold and letting steam bind it together.

Layering flour, filling, and flour in the mold

To make Tutu Kueh, rice flour is first put into the mold, the filling is placed in the center, and then more rice flour is added on top to cover it. The flour encloses the filling above, below, and around it so that the filling is not exposed. The mold does more than shape the outline; it is a tool for fitting the flour and filling into one small piece in a set order.

The filling is made with finely ground peanuts or sweetened coconut. In some examples, it is combined with a palm sugar called gula melaka, which adds the flavor of nuts or coconut and the sweetness of the sugar to the mild taste of the rice flour. The color of the cut surface and the sweetness also change depending on the filling used.

Shaping Tutu Kueh. Flour and filling are being layered in the mold. Photo: Chensiyuan, date unknown, location unknown. Original image / CC BY-SA 3.0. Reduced-size version from the source, with no additional processing.

The fineness of the flour, and a cloth for steaming

The rice flour packed into the molds is fine-textured. In one producer’s example, fine rice flour is placed in flower-shaped molds and steamed to a soft texture that crumbles gently. Makers adjust the fineness of the flour and how it is packed so that each steamed piece holds together.

In a recipe (a set of ingredient proportions and method) from The Meatmen, a local culinary production team, rice flour is dry-toasted with pandan leaves, cooled, and then sprinkled with hot water in which sugar and salt have been dissolved. Rather than being kneaded into a single sticky mass, the flour is loosened with a fork, sifted to an even, fine, sand-like state, and left to rest. This preparation is presented as a step that keeps the pieces from cracking when they are removed from the molds. For a fluffy result, the flour should not be compressed too firmly when it is packed into the mold.

The National Museum of Singapore holds a small cloth used in making Tutu Kueh in the 1960s. The cloth, about 8 centimeters square, was used to cover the handmade tin molds when they were placed on the steamer. It shows that makers did not simply place the flour directly on the steamer but used the mold and cloth together so that each piece could be handled.

In one style, the finished sweets are accompanied by fragrant pandan leaves. Each small white rice-flour sweet, filled with a sweet filling and accompanied by a green leaf, is handed over at a stall.

A Hokkien rice cake becomes a small filled sweet

Tutu Kueh is thought to be a Singaporean adaptation of a Hokkien steamed rice cake. San kueh, said to be its origin, is a large rice cake without filling. In Singapore, it became a small flower shape and came to contain fillings such as coconut and peanuts.

In the 1930s, Tan Yong Fa, who had migrated from Fujian, is said to have sold the sweet on the streets and made it widely known. In a 2018 interview, his daughter Tan Bee Hua showed his registration certificate from when he came to Singapore in 1932, a stall license from 1957, and a receipt from 1964 for two pushcarts. According to the family, her father made the unfilled rice cake of his hometown smaller and filled it with coconut and peanuts. The path he followed, changing the sweet in his new home and selling it from a pushcart, can be seen in both the papers and the tools kept by the family.

In the 1970s, her elder brother Cheong Chuan took over the work. The family moved the stall to follow evening moviegoers and the crowds in Chinatown, and in 1973 they moved to a permanent hawker centre. During school holidays, Bee Hua also helped by washing pandan leaves, roasting peanuts, and selling on the street. The machine used to adjust the fineness of the rice flour had reportedly been in use since the 1960s. The family prepared the small filled sweets from the raw ingredients and carried them to places where people gathered to sell them.

Several stories about the sound “tutu”

There are several explanations for the name. One links it to the Tamil word putu, which relates to a food made with flour and coconut. Another says it comes from the sound made by steamers heated over charcoal. In addition, a museum’s description of the tools records an explanation that the name came from the sound of a horn that vendors sounded to call customers.

The steamer sound and the sound used to call customers explain a similar sound, but the tools that make the sound are different. The origin of the name has not been settled, but the Chinese spelling 嘟嘟糕 also directly reflects the repeated sound.

The exterior of Tutu Kueh and the filling visible where it has been bitten. Two scenes in the same image. Photo: ProjectManhattan, 2013-08-10, location unknown. Original image / CC0. Full size, with no additional processing.

Similar sweets, and today’s fillings

Putu piring, in which rice flour is packed into a mold and steamed, closely resembles Tutu Kueh. Malay putu piring includes a style in which palm sugar is enclosed in the center and grated coconut is served separately with the steamed sweet. Tutu Kueh is smaller, and its distinguishing feature is that coconut or peanuts themselves go inside as the filling.

Some Tutu Kueh today contains black sesame, chocolate, durian, or other fillings. What changes is mainly the filling, while the form of a small, white, flower-shaped rice-flour sweet has been handed down and remains linked to the tools of the old stalls.

Glossary