Snack @Poh Cheu, Alexandra

There is always a long queue at Poh Cheu stall, in a coffee shop next to the Alexandra Village Hawker Centre.  The stall seems popular and there are many newspaper cuttings and good food awards all over the stall.

Poh Cheu

Poh Cheu specialised in a variety of handmade kueh keuh - Soon Kueh, Ang Ku Kueh.  They also have nice abacus and glutinous rice, which was the reason we were there.  We queued for 45 minutes before we managed to buy the "prized" kueh kueh.

Variety of Kueh

The staffs were still busy making kueh at around 2pm. They were still rolling the dough, wrapping the filling red bean paste and peanut paste into the kueh, placing it on a cut banana leaf and arranging the kueh onto the steaming rack to steam.

Kueh Making

Ang Ku Kueh (红龟糕) @$0.70
Ang Ku Kueh are made with glutinous rice flour and shaped like a tortoise to symbolise longevity. Besides the traditional Peanut and Red bean paste fillings, they also offer a variety of other fillings - Black Sesame (new), Durian, Green Bean, Salted Bean, Yam, Coconut, Coffee, Mango and Green Tea. Loved the vibrant colours and enjoyed choosing the different flavours.  Maybe that's the reason why it took every customer so long to place their orders.

Ang Ku Kueh are traditionally used to celebrate baby full month. You can order Hong Qian, Hong Yuan and glutinous rice for the traditional baby full celebration snack. Understand from a colleague that according to traditional, round bottom and sharp tip HongYuan is for boys while flat HongQian is for girls. In the olden days where boys were preferred over girls, glutinous rice was privileged for only the baby boys. Nowadays, you can just include whatever to you liking for baby full month.

Noticed that these sticky skin traditional snack is not popular among the kids. Luckily there are still adults who can appreciate the Ang Ku Kueh which we had queued 45 minutes for. Peanut and black sesame are our favourites.

Ang Ku Kueh in Vibrant Colours!

Soon Kueh 笋粿@ $0.70~$1.00
The other speciality is their Soon Kueh with different fillings - Turnip Soon Kueh, Ku Cai Kueh, Bamboo Kueh, Yam Kueh and Rice cake (Peng Kueh). Even though the name  笋粿 literally implied snack made with bamboo shoots,  the typical filling in Singapore is turnip, which is my favourite.  I personally cannot appreciate the "authentic" bamboo shoot kueh (which is also more expensive) as I can't stand the smell. Do note that Yam Kueh is only available on certain days (Fri & Sat).

Not the best Soon Kueh I had, but still very satisfying, especially with the black sauce and chilli.

Soon Kueh
Rating: 3.75/5

Abacus 客家算盘子@$2
The reason why we were there was not Ang Ku Kueh nor Soon Kueh, but the Hakka dish - Abacus Beads (Suan Pan Zi 算盘子).  It is not easy to find this traditional delicacy in Singapore, only know of a few stalls and this is the nearest.  They were named as Abacus because the shape and size of these yam balls resemble the beads of a Chinese Abacus (算盤 or counting tray) and symbolises wealth (got $$ to count).  They were boiled and then fragrantly sautéed with hei bi (dried shrimp), shredded carrot, mushrooms and some waxed meat.  The abacus were garnished with spring onions and deep fried shallots.

Liked the texture of the abacus, slightly chewy without sticking to your teeth. The main drawback is the abacus are pre-packed into a container.  The condensed steam seems to make the surface a bit soggy. Believe it will taste much better if eaten immediately after the stir-fry.

Abacus
Rating: 4/5

Glutinous Rice 糯米饭@$1.50
Glutinous rice cooked with mushrooms, waxed meat/sausage, peanuts and small white fish. Fried shallots was sprinkled on top. Same issue as Abacus, its pre-packed and the condensed steam seems to affect the taste.  But the container is definitely very convenient for reheat in the microwave.

Glutinous Rice

According to the old folks, glutinous rice and snack are a bit difficult to digest. As it is sticky, oil is often added to prevent them from sticking together. People are getting more health conscious nowadays, these starchy snacks maybe not be suitable for daily consumption but maybe more for occasional indulgence.

Small tips to beat the queue.

• Poh Cheu provide call & collect service which allow you to skip the long queue.  The condition is the order for each kueh flavour is to come in multiple of 10 only. 
• If you are only interested in the abacus, glutinous rice and rice cake which are pre-packed, you can just take the number of containers you want and pay directly to the stall owner without having to queue.

Poh Cheu
Address: 127 Bukit Merah Lane 1,
#01-230 Singapore
Time: 8am - 6pm, Closed on Sunday & Public Holidays (Except Friday & Saturday)
Tel: +65 6276 2287
http://www.sbestfood.com/pohcheu.htm