Yam Kuih

There are many ways of eating yam:

• steamed and eaten with coconut flakes mixed with sugar,
• deep fried into crunchy fritters,
• used as one of the ingredients for Bubur Cha Cha,
• made into Yam Cake for snack,
• made into kuih called Yam Talam,
• braised with chicken,
• braised with pork belly (to form a Hakka dish called Wu Tau Kau Yoke)

to name a few.

Steamed Yam Cake is a popular savoury snack which is made with such ingredients as rice flour, dried prawns, Shitake mushroom and ground anchovies and topped with fried shallots, red chilies and spring onions.

Start with the yam:

• Dice about 400 g of yam. (Choose the yam which is powdery so that it melts when you bite into it.)

Prepare the batter:

• Mix the following;
• 250 g of rice flour
• 750 ml of water
• 1 tsp of salt

Prepare the condiments:

• Pound or grind about 100 g of dried prawns (can be more, according to one's preference)
• Dice about 100 g of soaked Shitake mushrooms.
• Wash and dry 100 g of anchovies. Fry them and grind them finely.
• Prepare:
• 1 tbsp of light soy sauce.
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 tsp of pepper

Prepare the garnishing:

• Wash 2 red chilies, remove the seeds and cut them into short strips.
• Peel about 100 g of shallots, slice them and fry them into crisps.
• Wash and cut spring onions into 0.5 cm length.

Method:

• Prepare a steamer with water and turn on the heat to boil the water.

• Heat up the wok with 3 tbsp of cooking oil.
• Saute the pounded or ground dried prawns until fragrant.
• Add in the mushrooms and continue to fry.
• Add in the ground anchovies and continue to fry.
• Add the light soy sauce, salt and pepper into the rice flour batter.
• Stir the batter to ensure that there is no lump and pour them into the wok.
• Add the yam into the wok.
• Stir the batter and yam over medium heat until the batter is half cooked.
• Scoop them up into a 7 inch round pan.
• Level the batter using your spatula.

• Place the pan into the steamer of boiling water.
• Cover the pan loosely with a piece of aluminium foil to prevent water from dripping onto the batter.
• Steam for about 1 hour or until the yam cake is cooked. (Use a satay stick to test that the cake is cooked. Poke the stick into the centre of the yam cake and if it comes out clean, the cake is cooked.)

• Remove the pan from the steamer and let the yam cake cool completely.
• Garnish with the red chilies, shallots and spring onion.
• The yam cake is ready to be served with chili sauce or sweet sauce or both.