Homemade Yam Cake is always better compare those selling at outside stall because those were mostly plain batter with very minimal dried prawns, mushrooms & shallots. Most of the times it was just tasteless and you need to dip with sweet sauce or chilli sauce given.
This wholesome recipe will delight the young & old and it's just so good that you can just eat it on it's own.
Recipe adapted from Kitchen Tigress blog.
Ingredients: (makes a 11 x 17.5 x 5cm aluminium base pan)
20 g Dried prawns - rinse and soak in 40 ml water till soft, about 15 minutes; squeeze dry, reserving the water; chop roughly
15 g Chinese dried mushrooms - rinse and soak in 100 ml water till soft, about 30 minutes; squeeze dry, reserving the water; slice thinly, then cut into small cubes
410g Yam (aka taro)* - peel and trim to yield about 285 g; rinse; cut corn kernel-sized
13 pcs Shallots - peel, rinse and thinly sliced
50 ml Vegetable Oil - To fry shallots
3 tsp Vegetable Oil - To fry dried prawns 1/4 tsp Salt (omit this if using box chicken stock as it's already salty)
1/4 tsp Sugar
1/8 tsp five-spice powder 1 tbsp light soya sauce 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
Batter mixture 100 g rice flour 175 ml water - top up water drained from dried prawns & mushrooms to make 175 ml
250ml pork or chicken stock (1 box)
Garnish 2 tbsp spring onions, roughly chopped 2 tbsp coriander, roughly chopped 1/2 red chilli, julienned
1/2 tsp toasted white sesame seeds
Step by Step:
1. Prepare dried prawns, dried mushrooms, yam and shallots as detailed above.
2. In a wok, stir-fry shallots in 50ml hot vegetable oil over medium heat till lightly golden. Turn off heat. Continue stirring till nicely golden brown. Remove shallots with a skimmer and set aside.
3. Using the same wok & the leftover oil in No. 2 above. Reheat wok over medium heat, fry yam till just soft (but not brown), about 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat.
4. Remove yam to a big bowl. Immediately sprinkle with salt and five-spice powder. Toss till evenly mixed. Set aside.
5. Reheat wok with 3 tsp oil. Over medium-high heat, stir-fry dried prawns till lightly golden. Add mushrooms and stir-fry till fragrant and lightly golden. Add light soya sauce and ground white pepper. Stir till evenly mixed. Turn off heat. Add mixture to yam along with all of fried shallots except 2 tbsp reserve for garnishing on top. Stir till evenly mixed. Set aside.
6. Line bottom of 11 x 17.5 x 5 cm aluminium base pan with parchment paper, leaving some overhang by the sides.
7. To make the batter, pour liquid (175ml water) & 1/4 tsp sugar into wok and stir to deglaze. Using low heat, slowly add rice flour. Stir till smooth.
8. Then add boiling chicken or pork stock. Stir till evenly mixed. Turn on heat to low. Stir continuously, scraping sides and bottom of wok. Reduce heat to very low as batter gets hot. If lumps appear, turn off heat immediately, stir vigorously till smooth, then turn on heat again.
9. When batter starts to thicken, add fried ingredients (except the 2 tbsp shallots set aside for garnishing). Stir till batter is thick enough to coat a spoon/spatula thinly. Go for a thinner consistency if you like your orh kueh softer, and vice versa. Turn off heat.
10. Transfer batter into aluminium base pan. Smooth and level batter with a spoon.
11. Steam over rapidly boiling water till inserted skewer comes out clean or almost clean, depending on consistency of batter before steaming. This should take about 40 minutes. Check that you have enough boiling water in the steamer to last through the steaming process.
12. Let the freshly steamed yam cake cool down completely before serving them. The shape holds better as they cool down - it makes cutting easier.
Remove kueh to a wire rack to cool down, an hour or so. Unmould by running skewer around edge of pan, then lifting kueh onto a plate. Discard parchment paper. Cut into pieces.
13. Serve garnished with spring onions, coriander, red chilli & sesame seeds, and remaining shallots.
The good thing of using this Queen's Xense Casserole is the non stick surface. Even after cooking this sticky yam paste, the pan was still looking clean after I transferred the paste using a spatula. I can just use a kitchen towel/tissue to wipe away and I'm ready to cook the next dishes. No washing needed.
Been using this casserole pan for over 1 year and the surface is still so good. It makes washing up so easy & quick task. Love it so much!!
Cooked with Queen's Xense Casserole Marble Coated Anodised Coating. Non stick 5 layer marble coating. Durable & Long Lasting. High heat efficiency. Easy cleaning & maintenance.
More details please visit: http://www.edgi.com.my