Hee Pan is a soft and chewy Hakka steamed rice cake. It’s a simple kuih you can make easily at home. Almost like biting into a lightly sweetened, pink cloud.
Hee Pan (pronounced as “Hey-pun” or also known as Xi Ban) is a kuih my sister and I used to eat growing up. I’m not sure whether it was the taste, texture or colour that attracted me: I just loved it. We refer to this rice cake as pink kuih, but there are orange pumpkin and purple sweet potato versions too.
Actually, this kuih is pretty tasteless. There aren’t any in-your-face flavours. It’s slightly sweet, with hints of pandan and fragrance from the banana leaf. The texture is extremely soft like white bread, but chewy at the same time.
More Malaysian kuih to try:
- Ondeh-Ondeh (Pandan Glutinous Rice Balls With Coconut Palm Sugar)
- Peanut Muah Chee 花生麻糍
- Fried Nian Gao Sweet Potato Yam Sandwich
If you made this recipe, do leave a comment and rating below because I love hearing your feedback. Make sure to tag me on Instagram @eatwkriss so that I can see your recreations!
Hee Pan 喜板 (Hakka Steamed Rice Cake)
Ingredients
- 90 ml water
- 1 pandan leaf knotted
- 60 g castor sugar
- ½ tsp instant yeast
- 1 tbsp water
- 70 g all-purpose flour
- 70 g glutinous rice flour
- red food colouring
- 1½ tbsp neutral cooking oil
- banana leaf
Instructions
- Cut out 6 rounds of banana leaf, 3½" in diameter. Rinse, wipe dry and set aside for later.
- In a small pot, combine water and pandan leaf. Cover with a lid and simmer until the water is infused with pandan (you should be able to smell the fragrance).
- Add in sugar, stirring to dissolve. Set aside to cool.
- Combine instant yeast and water, mixing well to ensure there are no lumps. Once the sugar mixture is cool to touch, pour the yeast in.
- In a medium bowl, sift in all-purpose and glutinous rice flour. Pour in the liquid mixture and mix until a shaggy dough forms. Add some red food colouring and knead to incorporate the colour into the dough. The dough should be slightly sticky but not wet.
- Add oil and continue kneading until fully incorporated. Divide the dough into 6 equal parts, around 50g each. Roll into a smooth ball and place on a banana leaf, pressing it down slightly to create a disc shape. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
- To your steaming set-up, add room temperature and boiling water in a 1:1 ratio. Place the kuih inside and cover with a lid. Let them rise in this controlled environment for 30 minutes.
- Bring the water to a boil, and steam for 12-15 minutes. Leave them for 3-5 minutes before opening the lid. Best served warm.
Notes
Me and my mum like it very much!Fluffy but tastless,i think we both like this because of the interesting pink colour😂.Next time i will add strawberry flavour😍😍
HAHAHA it’s true that hee pan is very mild in flavour but strawberry i think would go well with the colour! im glad you and your mom enjoyed this 🙂
the go to recipe if you just want a simple & quick breakfast! easy to make & ingredients are not too hard to find in the uk
thank you for your sweet review, im glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂