I learn from my mother how to cook yam cake. It’s not really my favourite food but from time to time my mother would make them and shared with me. I thought best I learn it before too late and regret that I never learn how to cook it.

“Yam is the common name for some plant species in the genus Dioscorea that form edible tubers. Yams are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in many temperate and tropical regions, especially in West Africa, South America and the Caribbean, Asia, and Oceania. Compared to sweet potatoes, yams have an earthy, neutral taste. They can be mildly sweet but mostly take on the flavour of the seasonings used in the dish. Yams must be cooked before eating because they are toxic when eaten raw.”

Thought I should have a break from Christmas festive food. Today, I am going to make yam cake and the fry some cooked yam cake; I am a chili fan; got to have chili sauce. So, I am going to garnish it with chili sauce and fried shallots. I am happy it turned out well, firm and taste delicious. Let’s cook!!!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups rice flour
1/2 cup cornflour
1 L cool water (Tap)
4 Tbs vegetable oil, divide
200 g dried shrimps soaked in hot water 30 minutes, squeezed and finely chopped
3 dried mushrooms, soaked in hot water 30 minutes, diced
2 Chinese sausages /lap cheong, finely chopped
Half yam, about 380-400 g, remove the skin, diced into 1 cm cubes
1 Tbs garlic minced
1/2 Tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
1 Tsp salt, plus extra
1 Tsp pepper, plus extra
1 Tsp sugar
oil, for frying

Garnish

some fried shallots
chili sauce

Method

Mix rice flour and cornflour with water, then stir until it forms a smooth paste. Make sure there are no lumps in the mixture. Heat 1-2 Tbs oil in deep saucepan on medium heat, fry garlic, shrimps, mushrooms and sausage till slightly coloured and fragrant about 3-5 minutes. Add yam, five spice powder, salt, sugar and yam batter in.

Cook on low heat, stirring and scraping sides of saucepan continuously for 10–15 minutes, till the mixture is a thick starchy paste. Taste and check seasoning if needed more salt or pepper.

Transfer to greased 1-2 Tbs oil all over the round tin with handles on both side about 22 cm. Smooth the top. You will need a big wok and lid that can fit your round pan. Place a round iron rack in the wok to hold baking tin on. Fill with enough water say about 2-3 cm space to the rack.

Put yam cake pan sit on top of rack and turn heat high and steam yam cake with lid on wok for about 40 to 45 minutes or until cooked. Don’t worry if yam cake looks a little wobbly when you bring it out of the steamer, it will definitely firm up when it had cool completely.

Be careful when lifting the hot yam cake pan out of the wok. Let it cool for about 2-4 hours; by then, it will have firmed up. Cut it into a long strip and then cut it into pieces. Take some long strip yam cake out to fry. Heat a saucepan with about 1 Tbs of oil and fry until golden brown and crispy. Plate cooked yam cake and fried yam cake on a plate. Scatter some fried shallots and drizzle some chili sauce over the top of both fried and cooked yam cake. Serve warm with a cup of Chinese tea. If it had gone cold you can warm up in microwave for 20-25 seconds. Enjoy!!!!

https://helenscchin.com/2022/12/26/yam-cake-with-fried-yam-cake/

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