Piece of cake…

Kuih bingka is a traditional Malay(sian) cake that is baked but no, the texture is quite different as those regular cakes that most are familiar with. I would say it is closer to those no-bake cheesecakes that are chilled to set.

There are many versions or varieties but as far as I can remember, my mum used to make one only – the bingka bandong…

*Sorry for the blurry pic – very old handphone camera shot*

…using what we call bandong here or ubi kayu elsewhere (tapioca). I remember it was baked in the oven and that final touch – the glaze of butter on top for the added fragrance. Of course, we can’t get any outside that comes near to what she made…and unfortunately, I never learnt how to make it myself so these days, I would just have to do without. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I can find any bingka bandong around here that is reasonably good enough.

Other kinds of bingka that are usually available around here would be the bingka pandan…

*Archive photo*

…or the bingka labu (pumpkin) and bingka jagung (corn). I did try making the pumpkin one once but it was rather disastrous and I had never tried doing it again since.

Once, somebody came out with some kind of fusion version – the bingka cheese…

*Archive photo*

…but I guess it did not go down too well with the general public so I have not seen that for a long time now.

I would not say that I had had really nice ones all this while so they were just one of those things that I might buy sometimes for a change. However, I came across this bingka labu (pumpkin)…

…that was simply out of this world, so very very nice. They must have added a lot of santan (coconut milk) so it is extra lemak (rich) and maybe, egg too so it is not hard or rubbery like the usual bingkas. I would say it is soft and wobbly like the green top of the serimuka, the really good ones, that is.

If you are in Sibu, you can get it in the morning at this stall (2.306488, 111.818695)…

*Screenshot from google maps, streetview*

…at the end of Jalan Kpg. Hilir, around Simpang Tiga where the SEDC hawker stalls and the MDS Supermarket are located. Everything here is homemade – the kampung folks will make them at home and deliver here for sale and if you are lucky, you may come across the out-of-this-world Haji-something pulut panggang or what we call Kate panggang. They’re RM1.10 each now – don’t bother about the rest available at RM1.00 each. Those are not worth the calories.

Back to the bingka labu, they are selling that at 3 pieces for RM1.00…

…but each is very much smaller than the regular ones. Perhaps they need to cover the cost of the extra ingredients that went into the making. If I am not wrong, they used to sell it in one big slice at RM1.00 each. Probably that gave the impression that it was kind of pricey so now they do cut it up into smaller bite-size slices.

Well, do drop by and check this place out. There will be an array of all kinds of kuihs and stuff you will not know where to begin…and do go early as usually, by mid-morning, there will not be much of anything left.