Nyonya Steamed Yam Cake (Or-Kuih)

A couple of weeks back, a friend gave me some home made steamed yam cakes and that actually sparked the interest of making some myself! I can't really say I am a fan of yam (taro) but anything savoury I'll go for it. I love the toppings! :)

Seeing that yam is not expensive, gave me a very good reason to test some recipes out. I checked online as well as some recipe books but the ingredients used differed very much from what I used to, so I called my mom up and ask for her recipe and it took me 3 attempts to perfect the flour mix as mom can't remember the actual amount of water she used.

The first two attempts, the batter was too hard as I did not have the wheaten flour so I used the potato starch which really harden the mixture and also, the recipe did not required the yam cubed to be steamed prior adding to the flour mix which gave me a very hard yam cubed. On the second attempt, I used wheaten flour but cut down on the liquid and again I got a very hard batter. I finally managed to get a perfect consistency on the third attempt and was  really happy with it!

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These tasted so good with chili sauce and a bowl of black glutinous rice porridge! The hubby said the thought of having these brought him back to Penang! :)

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Ingredients

• 300 gm Yam (taro) - cut into small small dice


• 300 gm Minced pork


• 1 slice Preserved turnip (about 80-100 gm) - chopped finely


• 130 gm Dried shrimps - chopped


• 250 gm Rice flour


• 1 tbsp Wheaten flour


• 800 ml Warm water


• 3 cloves Garlic - smashed and minced


• 1 tsp Five spice powder


• Salt and pepper to taste


• Oil for frying

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Garnishing

• Sauted dried shrimps (half from the basic ingredient)


• Sauted mince meat


• Sauted preserved turnip


• Toasted peanuts - lightly pounded/chopped


• 1 stalk Spring onion - finely cut


• 2 tbps Fried shallot


• 1 Red chili - optional

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Methods

1. Steam the diced yam for about 30 minutes or until soft but still firm.


2. Heat up wok/frying pan with some oil and fry the chopped dried shrimps till fragrant. Lift up and keep aside.


3. Using the same frying pan, add a little oil and dry fry the chopped preserved turnip till fragrant. Lift up and keep aside.


4. In the same frying pan, heat up some more oil and saute the minced garlic till light golden and add in the minced meat. Fry till cook.


5. Lift up half the fried minced pork and keep aside.


6. Stir the remaining minced pork in the frying pan, add in half the dried shrimps, half of the preserved turnip and the steamed diced yam with the five spice powder, salt and pepper until well mixed.


7. Mean while, in a big mixing bowl, add in the rice flour and wheaten flour and stir in the warm water until you get a good and smooth batter.


8. Add in the yam mix and stir till well mixed.


9. Pour batter into a greased pan (I used a 8" springform pan lined with banana leaf) and steam for 40-50 minutes or until firm.


10. Remove the pan from steamer (you might get a little wet top but not to worry) and let it cool on the table for 5 minutes.


11. Sprinkle all the garnishing in this order - mince pork, dried shrimps, preserved turnip, spring onion, peanuts and fried shallot.


12. Serve when it has cooled down to room temperature.

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