Soon Kueh Stories

In the 1950s, Abbess Yang Qincai of Hai Inn See, a temple in Choa Chu Kang, discovered that bamboo plants grew particularly well in the temple grounds and led the effort to make soon kueh regularly. The kueh became so popular that it was sold at the nearby coffeeshop, at 5 cents apiece, where it quickly became an essential breakfast item for residents. Researcher Kelvin Tan explores how Chinese Buddhist women like her shaped the vegetarian food landscape in Singapore as he recreates this much beloved recipe.

Kelvin (left) measuring the amount of flour needed for the soon kueh’s delicate dough skin as host Paddy watches.

Vegetarian soon kueh based on the recipe from 海印古寺90周年特輯 [Haiingu Temple 90th Anniversary Special] (Singapore: Hai Inn Temple, 2018).

Recipes

Although Kelvin followed the temple’s recipe closely, he added radish and black fungus to the filling, which are popular in soon kueh recipes today. For the dough skin, he added 20 g of glutinous rice flour and used smaller quantities of wheat starch and tapioca flour (300 g and 170 g respectively).

In the old days when rice flour was not as readily available, the nuns at Hai Inn See used a stone mill to grind rice into rice milk to make the dough skin. Leaves from simpoh air (Dillenia suffruticosa), a native plant, were used to pack the kueh for takeaways.

Soon kueh recipe reproduced from 海印古寺90周年特輯 [Haiingu Temple 90th Anniversary Special] (Singapore: Hai Inn Temple, 2018).

Related Podcast

The Chinese Vegetarian Foodscape of the 1950s–60s
Set up by five Buddhist women in 1946, Loke Woh Yuen was the first Chinese vegetarian restaurant in Singapore. It employed an all-female staff, was known for its popular shark’s fin made from maize, and was sometimes so packed that it had to set up dining tents that stretched to the main road. Its efforts to spread vegetarianism were complemented by other Buddhist women and nuns who wrote cookbooks and fundraised for charity.

Related Article

How Chinese Buddhist Women Shaped the Food Landscape in Singapore
Kelvin Tan tells us about the women who practised Buddhism and set up popular vegetarian restaurants in the 1940s and 50s to help promote vegetarianism.

Related Books

Lew, Nyok Thye. 坐月素食谱=The Vegetarian Confinement Recipes. Singapore: Imperial Chef, n.d. (From National Library, Singapore, call no. R 641.5636 LNT)

Shi, Chin Yam. 百味菜根香=Top 100 Vegetarian Delights. Singapore: Man Fut Tong Old People’s Home, 1998. (From National Library, Singapore, via PublicationSG)