Beautiful Pulut Kuning Birthday Cake

You may be wondering, what is this cake that is decorated with shelled prawns and topped with a chilli flower? To answer the question, this is a SAVOURY cake!

I have always wanted to ‘bake’ a savoury cake so when I stumbled upon Madame Julia Sallim’s Pulut Kuning cake featured in the Straits Times, I had to try it. 

‘Pulut’ means sticky or glutinous rice; and ‘Kuning’ is the Malay word for golden turmeric.

Pulut Kuning is a traditional Malay delicacy of steamed golden glutinous rice layered in between with delicious rendang – a type of spicy meat curry, gently simmered until the spicy sauce has been absorbed by the meat and packed full of flavour.  It is a celebratory cake well loved by the Malays for birthdays, weddings and other festivities and it looks amazing, decorated with simple ingredients and piped around borders with soft whipped potato – such a clever idea!  

I made this cake for my dad’s 83rd birthday and he loved it 🙂 The spicy rendang was a perfect complement for the Pulut sticky rice and nicely brought out the subtle coconut flavour and mild fragrance of the turmeric. On hindsight, it was quite the perfect cake for the occasion as there was no sugar quota to watch out for or to cut for our Birthday ‘Boy’! 

Ingredients for Mutton Rendang

The ingredients are quite straightforward once you are familiarised with the few spices/herbs that are needed.The recipe for the Pulut sticky rice is Madame Julia Sallim’s, adapted with my own version of the curry rendang using the RENDANG PASTE which you can get here. In this recipe, I used mutton/lamb mince as we like the strong flavour. If mutton/lamb is not the preference, this can be easily substituted with beef or chicken.

For the sticky rice, you will need tamarind slices, turmeric powder and pandan leaf. 

And for the meat rendang, dried chillies, chopped onions, lime leaves and lemon grass gave that extra oomph!

Dried tamarind slices, ground turmeric, pandan leave (original and knotted)

Clockwise: lime leaves, lemon grass, dried chillies, chopped onion

I got all of these easily from the local supermarket but depending on where you are at, if there is any difficulty, you may want to check out the Asian supermarkets for these spices.

When the Pulut Kuning rice is steamed, it becomes a gorgeous golden and luscious sticky rice that is soft and aromatic yet at the same time, sticky and smooth on the palate. This fragrant and mildly creamy rice is ideally matched with the yummy, rich and piquant meat rendang which has absorbed that wonderful spicy coconut sauce, fused with all the goodness of the different spices. So good!

Delicious Pulut Kuning Cake

In Chinese tradition, prawns symbolise laughter and the red eggs, happiness. I merrily piped soft whipped potato as a cake border and finished with a flourish, decorating with grilled prawns, red quail eggs and a red chilli flower. Check out the recipe below for more detailed instructions and do leave me a comment, if you try it! I would love to know how it turned out and hear your views on this unconventional cake 🙂

INGREDIENTS

Pulut Kuning Rice
500g glutinous rice, washed
2 dried tamarind slices 
1½ tsp ground turmeric
800ml water
½ tsp salt
100ml coconut milk
2 pandan leaves, tied into knots

Mutton/Lamb Rendang
700g mutton/lamb mince
1 packet rendang mix (200g)
1 large onion (cubed)
4 dried chillies
5 lime leaves (also known as kaffa leaves)
3 stalks of lemon grass
400 ml coconut milk
200 ml water

For decoration
1 boiled potato (mashed with a little butter and milk)
5-6 hard-boiled quail eggs (stained red with natural food coloring)
3-4 grilled prawns (grilled and de-shelled)
1 red chilli (sliced into an open flower)
2-3 sprigs of coriander

Serves six to eight

Level of difficulty: Moderate

INSTRUCTIONS

Pulut Rice

1. Place the glutinous rice, dried tamarind slices, ground turmeric and 800ml water in a large bowl. Mix well and set aside at room temperature for ~4 hours or overnight.
2. Drain the rice, remove the tamarind slices and gently wash the rice under running water. Drain and set aside.
3. Add some water to a steamer and set it over medium heat. Once the water is boiling, steam the drained rice for 20 minutes.
4. While the rice is steaming, mix the salt into the coconut milk. Set aside.
5. After 20 minutes, remove the rice which should be sticky and partially cooked and transfer into a large bowl. 
6. Drizzle 1/3 of the coconut milk over the rice and mix evenly with a spatula. Repeat this step twice using the remaining coconut milk.
7. Transfer the rice from the bowl back into the steamer. Add the knotted pandan leaves on top and steam the rice for another 25 minutes until fully cooked.

Rendang

1. De-seed the dried chillies and soak it in warm water for ~10-15 min. Once softened and expanded, grind it in the food processor into a chilli paste.
2. Sauté the chopped onions in a little oil until it is caramelised and golden. Add in the chilli paste and stir fry till fragrant.
3. Next, add in the rendang mix followed by the lemon grass and lime leaves. Sauté till all the aromatic spices are well combined, sweltered and fragrant (kitchen will smell heavenly at this point!)
4. Add in the mutton and combine well with the spices. 
5. Stir in the coconut milk and mix well. At this stage, taste and add a dash of salt and pepper if desired. (I added just a pinch of pepper as the paste is already tasty).
6. Simmer the sauce until it is reduced to a semi-dry stew texture and fully absorbed by the meat.

Assembly

1. Place a 8 inch springform tin (without the base) unto a cake board and spread evenly 1/3 of the steamed sticky rice into the tin.
2. Layer the mutton rendang evenly across the rice. Repeat with the sticky rice and meat rendang until a three layer rice cake is formed. 
3. Carefully release the finished cake from the springform. Pipe mashed potato around the cake border.
4. Decorate with a red chilli flower and celebratory red quail eggs. Top with coriander and juicy cooked prawns.

Notes: Because this is a rice cake, it tastes the best when the rice is freshly made. The do-ahead would be to cook the rendang and to soak the rice the night before. I steamed the rice on the morning of the celebration and prepared the cake decoration items. Together with the nicely warmed up rendang, I assembled the cake in less than 20 minutes. If there are any leftovers, these should be stored like any rice and curry dishes and kept in the fridge, best consumed by the following day.

Did you make this? I would love to know how it turned out. Tell me more!😊  Please leave me a comment or tag me on Instagram, FB hashtag #thesugarcrumble 

And if you like this Pulut Kuning Cake, you might also like my other Asian bakes/desserts.

• Easy Bika Ambon
• How to make Kee Chang (碱水粽）
• Putu Piring Cake
• Pulut Hitam Creme Brulee
• Durian Creme Brulee
• Coriander Chiffon Cake
  
• Pistachio Matcha Pineapple Tart
• Mie Goreng Cake

Print Recipe

Pulut Kuning Birthday Cake (Golden Turmeric Rice Cake)

A delicious Pulut Kuning cake with a subtle coconut fragrance and layered with spicy, mouth-watering meat rendang.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Author: Kai

Ingredients

INGREDIENTS

• Pulut Kuning Rice
• 500 g glutinous rice (washed)
• 2 dried tamarind slices
• 1½ tsp ground turmeric
• 800 ml water
• ½ tsp salt
• 100 ml coconut milk
• 2 pandan leaves (tied into knots)

Mutton/Lamb Rendang

• 700 g mutton/lamb mince
• 1 packet rendang mix (200g)
• 1 large onion (cubed)
• 4 dried chillies
• 5 lime leaves (also known as kaffa leaves)
• 3 stalks of lemon grass
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 200 ml water

For decoration

• 1 boiled potato (mashed with a little butter and milk)
• 5-6 hard-boiled quail eggs (stained red with natural food coloring)
• 3-4 grilled prawns (grilled and de-shelled)
• 1 red chilli (sliced into an open flower)
• 2-3 sprigs of coriander
• Serves six to eight

Instructions

Pulut Rice

• Place the glutinous rice, dried tamarind slices, ground turmeric and 800ml water in a large bowl. Mix well and set aside at room temperature for ~4 hours or overnight.
• Drain the rice, remove the tamarind slices and gently wash the rice under running water. Drain and set aside.
• Add some water to a steamer and set it over medium heat. Once the water is boiling, steam the drained rice for 20 minutes.
• While the rice is steaming, mix the salt into the coconut milk. Set aside.
• After 20 minutes, remove the rice which should be sticky and partially cooked and transfer into a large bowl.
• Drizzle 1/3 of the coconut milk over the rice and mix evenly with a spatula. Repeat this step twice using the remaining coconut milk.
• Transfer the rice from the bowl back into the steamer. Add the knotted pandan leaves on top and steam the rice for another 25 minutes until fully cooked.

Rendang

• De-seed the dried chillies and soak it in warm water for ~10-15 min. Once softened and expanded, grind it in the food processor into a chilli paste.
• Sauté the chopped onions in a little oil until it is caramelised and golden. Add in the chilli paste and stir fry till fragrant.
• Next, add in the rendang mix followed by the lemon grass and lime leaves. Sauté till all the aromatic spices are well combined, sweltered and fragrant (kitchen will smell heavenly at this point!)
• Add in the mutton and combine well with the rendang spice.
• Stir in the coconut milk and mix well. At this stage, taste and sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper if desired. (I added only just a pinch of pepper as the paste is already tasty).
• Simmer the sauce until it is reduced to a dry stew texture and fully absorbed by the meat.

Assembly

• Place a 8 inch spring form tin (without the base) unto a cake board and spread evenly 1/3 of the steamed sticky rice into the tin.
• Layer the mutton rendang evenly across the rice. Repeat with the sticky rice and meat rendang until a three layer rice cake is formed.
• Carefully release the finished cake from the springform. Pipe mashed potato around the cake border.
• Decorate with a red chilli flower and celebratory red quail eggs. Top with coriander and juicy cooked prawns.

Notes

This is a rice cake, it tastes the best when the rice is freshly made. The do-ahead would be to cook the rendang and to soak the rice the night before. I steamed the rice on the morning of the celebration and prepared the cake decoration items. Together with the nicely warmed up rendang, I assembled the cake in less than 20 minutes. If there are any leftovers, these should be stored like any rice and curry dishes and kept in the fridge, best consumed by the following day.