I am very fond of Muar Chee, or Malaysian sticky rice balls coated with sugar, ground roasted peanuts, and sesame seeds.
One of the popular sweet snacks found in Penang and other places in Malaysia, muar chee are often sold by roadside stalls or mobile hawkers. The set up is pretty simple: steamed glutinous rice paste and ground peanut mixture in a container. When you order it, the vendor would cut a small piece of glutinous rice paste using a special Muar Chee cutting knife, transfer it into the ground peanut mixture, dice the muar chee paste into small cubes and then coat them with the peanut and sugar. You can top Muar Chee with some fried shallots, but it’s optional. A small pack of Muar Chee costs only RM1 but it’s so tasty and satisfying that I could have them every day as a dessert…
Last weekend, I got myself a pack of glutinous rice and made Muar Chee at home. Surprisingly, it was quite easy to make. As I don’t have a Muar Chee recipe, I had to guess and figure out the basic steps. The Muar Chee turned out very well and looked and tasted almost the same compared to the real ones. The only thing missing was pork lard, I think.
Here is my Muar Chee recipe. Try making it at home, it’s really a wonderful treat. If you wish to try other Malaysian recipes, please check out my huge collection of Malaysian recipes.
Ingredients:
8 oz glutinous rice flour
2 tablespoons tapioca flour
1 1/2 cup water
Some cooking oil (for greasing)
Fried shallot crisps
Roasted Peanuts Mixture
4 oz ground roasted peanuts
4 oz sugar
2 oz sesame seeds (lightly toasted)
Method:
Mix the glutinous rice flour and tapioca flour with water to form a batter. Transfer the batter into a greased pan. Steamed over high heat for 10-15 minutes until the glutinous rice paste is completely cooked through in the center. Let cool.
In a deep dish, mix the ground roasted peanuts, sugar, and sesame seeds well. Cut a small piece of the rice paste using a plastic knife. Drop it into the mixture and start cutting the rice paste into smaller cubes. Coat well with the mixture, dish out and serve immediately with some fried shallot crisps.
Cook’s Note:
If you want a sinfully delicious Muar Chee, add some lard into the ground peanuts and/or the steamed glutinous rice paste. It’s not healthy but it will taste even better.
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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Rasa Malaysia,
Your food blog is really fantastic. The muar chee looks so good, so nostalgic indeed.
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Dainty and cute…soft to eat. They say Muah Chee is “old-age friendly”…provided it don’t stick to the teeth. Woops!
You changed to Wordpress? Why?
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I love it! ‘Specially fresh made right on the street.
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This recipe sounds and looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Rosa
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All my favourite ingredients in one bowl! Not sure if it’s proper, but I’d sprinkle some shredded coconuts on top as well.
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This is by far my favourite dish when I visit Penang. I usually get it from Gurney Drive. Thanks for the recipe. I’m a Malaysian in London and this is probably one of those food you can’t get it here. Will attempt to make it this weekend. Thanks again for the recipe.
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thanks for this recipe, RM. i’m filipino and it’s very similar to a popular filipino dessert that we call “palitaw” (http://www.pinoycook.net/palitaw/), except we use grated coconut instead of peanuts. anyway, i’ve never had muar chee but i made it yesterday after reading your blog and i loved it! my husband couldn’t stop eating it. THANKS AGAIN!
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THANKKEWWWW so much for the recipe! You’re a gem!
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Have a look at lilyng2000.blogspot.com
She has a recipe that uses the microwave….also very yummy. I think another nice touch is the shallot oil. Now all this talk is making me peckish!
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This is my favorite!!!!
I used to eat this after laksa near kek lok si. Thanks for posting this recipe.
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Hey Rasa Malaysia,
I’ve been looking for “Char Kuew Teow Kerang” picture and recipe. I’m a pregnant lady who’s craving for this and sadly, there’s no closer Malaysian restaurant in Southern Tier NY, and Penang & Nyonya Restaurants in NYC are like 4 hrs drive away!!
I’m hoping you’ll have some time to cook this and show us its picture. I’m literally drooling over the foods that I’m seeing on this site. So kejam ahh! :-)
And I’d like to request your permission to save some pics of dishes, this way if I ever try to attempt to cook them myself, I know what it should look like. I won’t be re-publishing the pics.
Ohhh back to drooling.
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I wonder if the name “muar chee” has its roots in the Japanese “mochi”. I’m living in Japan, and the last time I went back to Malaysia, I brought back some mochi as souvenirs for my relatives to try. My uncle and auntie who lives in Penang, after trying some mochi, told me that it was just like the Penang muar chee. It was one of the things they bought for me to try when I was in Penang, and it is very similar to mochi. Yum :9
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Hi all - thanks for the comments.
Ame - I made CKT once with kerang (frozen one) and it tasted very good. I didn’t post it because I wasn’t happy with the pictures I took. Will try again.
Jean - I think Muar Chee is the Chinese words for 麻芝， and since Japanese use a lot of Chinese characters, I believe mochi came from Chinese, and that mochi is originally Chinese.
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I love Muar Chee as a snack and totally miss it. I can’t wait to try the recipe. Thanks for sharing!
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Hi RM, we made some muar chee ourselves after looking at your website. WE have no tapioca flour, so we substituted it with corn flour. On top of the groundnuts and dried shallots, we added a teaspoon of melted peanut butter to give it a twist. Taste really good and chewy..
We will probably make some glutinous rice ball in ginger soup ‘tong yuen’ with the leftover glutinous flour we have. THanks and keep posting good recipes!
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That looks great! I remember a version I had in Montreal that had crushed wafers (like love letters) and bits of chocolate in the ground peanut mixture!
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this is really interesting, like nothing I’ve seen before, and a beautiful photo too
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These look simply delicious.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Yes, muar chee is delicious.
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Hi RM,
Lovely blog you have here. I have a question about your Muar Chee recipe. We have the same thing in Taiwan and I usually made it without tapioca flour. Is there a particular reason for adding it? Does it made the dough softer? It’s one of my favorite snacks and your version looks very interesting.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Littlechi - yes, the addition of tapioca powder makes it softer. If you use all glutinous rice flour, it’s still good, but the texture is not as “soft.” Try it you might like it.
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Hihi!
I love your recipes. Have tried the Teriyaki chicken and it tasted so much better than the bottled ones :) Also tried the chicken wings flour-ing concept and it was awesome! Thanks for your generosity :) Will be trying this muah chee within this few days!
Anyway do you happen to know the recipe for ‘butterfly’? Similar to ham ji pang but the sweeter and top layer coated with sesame seeds.
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