I first learnt about this Hakka dish - Yam Abacus Seeds in the mid-1990s when I was working in the hospitality industry. A housekeeper with a hotel was kind enough to make it and bring it to our workplace for us to savour her Yam Abacus Seeds dish. Since then I have not eaten it again although I had thought about it often as I love eating yam. It was only recently that I thought of making it. I bought the yam many times and each time I put off making the dish as I thought that it would be difficult to make it. I read many recipes and watched many videos on how it is made. Then only I seriously got down to making it using my own judgement in the measurements, feeling the yam dough and tasting while cooking.
Ingredients:
For the abacus seeds:
- 400 g yam
- 140 g tapioca flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp cooking oil
- 100 g boiling water
- 1 pot of boiling water
- 1 large bowl of iced water
For the seasonings:
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 3 gloves garlic, chopped
- 3 pieces shallots, sliced
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped (optional)
- 3 pieces Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
- 50 g dried prawns, chopped up roughly
- 100 g minced pork/chicken
- 1 large piece of wood ear/black fungus, sliced thinly
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1/2 - 1 cup of water
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce (or more if you want a darker dish)
- 1 stalk green onion, chopped
- 1 sprig coriander, chopped
- 1 red chili, sliced thinly
- Peel the yam, wash it and slice it into approximately 1 cm thickness.
- Put the yam slices into a metal plate and put the plate into a steamer of boiling water. Steam the yam for 25-30 minutes or until it is soft enough to be mashed.
- Remove the yam from the steamer and transfer them into a big mixing bowl.
- Mash the yam with a fork.
- Add salt and cooking oil to the mashed yam.
- Add the tapioca flour and boiling water to the yam, both tablespoon by tablespoon, mixing initially with a wooden spatula (as the yam and water are hot) and later kneading by hand until the yam dough does not stick to the side of the bowl nor to your fingers.
- Transfer the dough to the counter top and continue kneading until it is smooth. If you feel that the dough is too dry, add more water, a spoonful at a time. If the dough is too wet, then add the tapioca flour, a little at a time.
- Once the dough is ready, roll it into a long cylindrical shape.
- Cut the dough into small pieces. (I weigh mine as I cut and each weighs exactly 8 g.)
- Roll each piece into a ball.
- Use your index finger to make an indent in the ball forming an abacus seed. Repeat till all the dough balls have been completed.
- Drop the yam abacus seeds into the pot of boiling water. They are cooked when they float to the top.
- Remove the floating ones into the bowl of iced water. This is to stop the cooking process and to firm up the abacus seeds. (I just let them remain in the iced water as I will be frying them immediately. If you scoop them up into a bowl for frying at a later time, then you have to drizzle some cooking oil onto them to prevent them from sticking to each other.)
- Heat up wok with cooking and sesame oils.
- Saute the garlic and shallots till fragrant. Saute onions till they are soft.
- Add the Shiitake mushroom and the dried prawns. Fry till they are fragrant.
- Add the minced pork/chicken and fry them till they are cooked.
- Add the wood ear and fry till it is cooked.
- Add the seasonings - salt and pepper (according to taste).
- Add some water.
- Add the dark soy sauce.
- Let the sauce boil. Once it has boiled, add the abacus seeds into the wok and stir them to mix them up with all the ingredients.
- Dish them up and sprinkle some chopped green onion, coriander and sliced red chilies on them. Serve them hot.