Kuih keria is one of my “must-eat” items whenever I am in Melaka.
Yes, I don’t post about it as much as nyonya kuih and all my cafe hopping pictures. But the kuih keria here is truly one of its kind.
The keria in KL?
Urgh, none that I know of could even come close.
Now, if you do know of a place in KL/PJ that sells amazing kuih keria similar to the thickly palm sugar crusted keria in Melaka, please share ok?
Back to the best kuih keria in Melaka.
As far as I know there are the famous Haji Jalil one that is near the mosque.
My favourite however, is this one –> “Kuih Keria Antarabangsaw Hjh Rahman.”
This is a little further down the road from the famous Haji Jalil. The price is the same, RM0.50 each and it has its own legion of fans too.
The queue began even before the kuih are ready.
Those who are early are allowed to write down their orders and they will be provided a number.
No paper, no tags. Just remember your number and have a drink or enjoy a bowl of laksa or roti bakar while you wait.
When the kuih is finally ready for sale, queue up for your turn and tell the fella your number.
Your precious heavy sugar crusted sweet potato rings will be packed into a paper bag. You can then pay for your order.
It is best enjoyed while it is hot, but even if it cooled down or eaten a day later (not sure if it is any later than that since none of our purchase last beyond a day) the crust remained pleasantly crispy and the inner flesh delightfully soft.
If you balk at the thought of biting into a sugar crusted sweet potato donut (essentially what kuih keria is) because of its potential calories, I can’t deny the fact that it is not exactly a low calorie snack.
However I could assure you that the sugar crust, daunting as it looks, isn’t saccharinely flat-out sweet but it is more of a toffee, burnt caramel sweetness.
The high ratio of sweet potato to flour also translates to better taste and chew.
BELOW:
At the back of the kitchen of Kuih Keria Antarabangsaw Hjh Rahman Choo (my friend and guide) found this old lady shaping each kuih keria by hand. So I went to the back to take a look. This old lady was quiet (she hardly spoke) but allowed photos.
The lady frying the kuih keria on the other hand rather unpleasantly scolded me.
Anyhow she said photos ok, no videos. I cropped her out of the photo.
There are more than one kuih keria business in Melaka and Kuih Keria Antarabangsa Haji Jalil is usually the first choice whenever kuih keria was mentioned.
I however, wasn’t as fond of Kuih Keria Antarabangsa Haji Jalil. My pick has been Kuih Keria Antarabangsaw Hjh Rahman since 2 years ago when I stumbled upon their old stall somewhere along the road during my search for kuih keria.
It was a fortunate find, for we went to Haji Jalil after that, and was able to compare both.
BELOW: Kuih Keria Antarabangsaw Hjh Rahman – 2 years ago.
1. Small stall shared with another business.
2. Bottles of drinks on the table that was found nowhere else in the Klang Valley.
3. Friendly owners and staff.
4. Delicious laksa and best kuih keria.
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In comparison, I find Haji Jalil’s kuih keria to be sweeter and the filling less of sweet potato taste.
I suspect perhaps Haji Jalil’s version has higher ratio of flour.
Anyhow, try them both and judge for yourself.
My pick is Hjh Rahman. Yours might or might not be the same.
Either way, enjoy the kuih keria because it is hard work to make them.
General recipe for Kuih Keria: (just to give you an idea of how it is made).
You can google for actual recipes.
First of all, you have to start with fresh sweet potatoes.
Steam them and mash them up (minus skin) while it is still hot.
Make sure the potato is totally cooled down before mixing it with the flour. Mix well.
The dough is expectedly sticky so just dust your hands with flour as you work on shaping each doughnut.
Form the dough into a ring by rolling each portion of batter into a log and joining both ends together to form a ring.
Once you have used up all your batter, heat up the wok with cooking oil.
Drop each dough rings into the oil. Once they turned crispy brown scoop them up and set them aside preferably elevated from any surface and allowing excess oil to drip down.
To prepare the sugar coating, boil gula melaka in a wok or saucepan until the mixture turns into a thick syrup.
Turn off the heat and quickly add the fried sweet potato into the syrup before it cools down too much and harden.
The idea is to get the doughnut coated with the syrup and allow it to harden as crust on the rings itself!
The kuih keria is ready for consumption (or for sale) once the sugar coating has crystallized.
Enjoy!
BELOW: Kuih Keria Antarabangsaw Haji Jalil offers more options. I tried almost every one of the kuih sold here and found them not to my liking.
1. Kuih Keria Antarabangsaw Hjh Rahman.
Close on Fridays.
Hours: 1.30pm till finish.
Address: Waze for “Kuih Keria Antarabangsa (Hjh Rahman)”
Street: Jalan Limbongan Permai 1.
2. Kuih Keria Antarabangsaw Haji Jalil.
Close on Fridays.
Hours: 1.00pm till finish.
Address: Waze for “”Kuih Keria Antarabangsa Hj Jalil )”
Street: Jalan Limbongan.
Doesnt taste so good for long que..wasting time
Kuih OK. Sedap. Tapi mulut budak jual kuih macam puaka. Kurang ajar. Not worth utk queue lama. Banyak tempat lain yg sedap dan murah. Jgn sombong masa tgh popular.
Ni yang dekat mana? Haji Jalil ke?
Hi Rebecca, nice write up! May I know whether Kuih Keria Hajah Rahmah has a long queue like the one at Haji Jalil always has?
Thanks!