Talam Labu Kuning (Pumpkin talam)

Last year, in October, my youngest son (Tim) was busy with writing a letter for Sint Nicholas (i.e. Sinterklaas) and putting the letter in his shoes behind the front door. Suddenly, we heard the door bell rang. My children were screaming so hard, because the lil' brother just put a letter in his shoes for Sinterklaas just a few seconds before that. It turned out that it was a girl friend of mine who also lives near us, stopping by to  give us a delicious pumpkin. The children (and us) are very happy with the present. It was really a good timing.

Back about the pumpkin. Yes, October is the time again for pumpkin harvest. In general, I do not favor the wind and rain during the Fall. However, I love the vegetable products that we could enjoy during this season. Pumpkin and its family is one of them.

My family loves enjoying pumpkin vegetable soup. You can find my pumpkin soup recipe here. I made a big pot of pumpkin vegetable soup with half of the pumpkin. The rest, I steamed the pumpkin and process it into an Indonesian snack, called Talam Labu Kuning. Labu kuning is the Indonesian translation of pumpkin. Talam is a traditional steamed cake usually made from rice flour or tapioca flour, or the combination of the two. One of the main ingredients is coconut milk. There are many variaties of kue Talam. Talam labu kuning, or pumpkin talam is one of the variations.

I was excited to try making this. However, I was a bit disappointed to find out that my oldest boy did not like it, while my youngest said he loved it but he did not want it. Apparently, the taste was not a familiar taste for them and I should give them a try more often before they would find the taste is acceptable. Anyway, I am glad that I have tried making this and introduced a new taste to the kids. The talam ended up in our (read: the adults) stomach.


Ingredients
Bottom layer
200 gr (mashed) steamed pumpkin
200 ml coconut milk
50 gr rice flour
25 gr tapioca flour
90 gr sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt

Top layer
200 ml coconut milk
40 gr rice flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:
1. Bottom layer: Mix all ingredients for the bottom layer in a bowl until a smooth mixture is obtained. I use electric mixer to produce that. Set aside.
2. Top layer: Mix all the top layer ingredients in a bowl until smooth mixture is obtained. Set aside.
3. Prepare a steamer and start boiling the water.
4. Prepare cupcake or muffin cups, fill it in with the bottom layer mixture until around 2/3 of the height. Steam it for around 15 minutes.
5. Pour in the top layer, until almost the top of the cups and steam it again for around 10-15 minutes.
6. Turn off the stove, and let it cool before serving it.