Yam cake (芋頭糕)

 

Another yum cha favourite of mine is taro or yam cake (wu tao gou).  I followed the recipe in Makan at Mum's with some minor mods and I'm really happy with the result.  Unlike my radish cake recipe, this has lap yoke which gives the yam cake it's distinct aroma

One of the shortcuts I took was to buy/use a 500g packet of frozen taro chips.  This means I only had to cut the chips to get my diced taro.  An ingredient I also omitted from the original recipe was mushrooms as I'm allergic

I also steamed the entire mixture in a rectangular pyrex.  This is what I use for steaming radish cake... so I had to extend the steaming time to approx 1hr 45mins

INGREDIENTS

500g packet of taro chips

2 sticks of Chinese sausage (lup cheong)

1/2 stick of cured pork belly (lup yoke)

25g dried shrimp

500ml water

Seasonings:

1t chicken stock powder

1 1/2t five spice powder

1t sugar

1 1/2t salt

1/2t white pepper

1 1/2t sesame oil

Flour mix:

180g rice flour

1T potato starch

250ml water

METHOD

Put the dried shrimp in some water to soak

Dice the Chinese sausage, cured pork belly and taro

In a large saucepan, fry the diced Chinese sausage and cured pork belly for 2 mins

Add the dried shrimp, taro and seasonings to the saucepan.  Mix well and fry for 3 mins.  Add 500ml of water, cover with lid and leave to simmer for 6 mins

Whisk the Flour mix ingredients together in a large bowl until smooth

Add the taro mixture to the flour mixture

Mix thoroughly until it thickens to a "cement like paste"

Oil/grease a container for steaming (I use a large rectangular pyrex but you can also use something like a 23cm round pan).  Pour the taro mix into your container, smooth and level the top

Steam until cooked (make sure to check at intervals and top up the steamer water).  Mine took 1 hour 45 mins to cook through.  You can test if cooked at 90 mins by using a skewer - if it comes out clean, it's done.

Allow the taro cake to fully cool and then turn out onto a chopping board

Cut into 24 pieces - with 8 slices per takeaway container.  These can then be kept in the fridge to be eaten in the week or frozen for longer storage

To serve, defrost and fry in a small saucepan so that the sides and edges are crispy.  We like to dip into hoisin sauce.  If you want some extra colour and texture, you can also sprinkle some diced spring onions and/or toasted sesame seeds over the pan fried slices

PRODUCTS

Taro chips

1/2 stick of lap yoke (left) and 2 sticks of chinese sausage (right)