Muah chee is definitely one of my favourite childhood snacks because I can never resist that chewy glutinous rice dough coated with crunchy coarsely ground peanuts and sugar that is so aromatic and addictive. Ever since I started making my own version at home (really easy!), I hardly buy muah chee at pasar malams these days. When the husband and I were at Gourmet Paradise food court for dinner, he suggested that we should try out this muah chee stall to see how famous it really is. Sometimes I’m just amused by food stalls that use the word ‘famous’ in their names. It just makes me wonder how good they really are. Funny thing is, every time we are here at this food court, we’ve never seen a queue or many customers buying muah chee from here.
The stall offers two types of muah chee – standard peanut and black sesame. We opted for the traditional peanut that comes in 3 sizes – $2.50 (small), $3.50 (medium) and $5.00 (large).
The fascinating thing about this muah chee is that the dough is not cut with scissors like those in pasar malam. Every bite size morsel is pulled from the main dough by hand (one by one). It is then dipped into shallot oil and rolled in the peanut mixture before transferring to a disposable plate.
We thought the portion of muah chee at $2.50 looked really miserably small.
I like how the muah chee is presented, separate from one another. They don’t stick together and each piece is evenly coated in the peanut mixture that isn’t overly sweetened with sugar. The texture of the warm muah chee is really soft with a very slight chewiness to it. It is also redolent of fried shallots.
This muah chee has a taste of nostalgia given its heritage of more than 60 years. But it isn’t really that spectacular. I prefer the ratio of water to flour to be a little less so the muah chee can have a firmer, chewier bite so this soft texture doesn’t quite appeal to me. The husband thinks it’s pretty ordinary with no wow factor. Is this worth the price tag? Probably not for us.
Hougang 6 Miles Famous Muah Chee (Stall 21)
Gourmet Paradise Food Court
480 Toa Payoh Lor 6
HDB Hub #B1-01
Opening hours: 12.00pm to 9.30pm daily