Yam and Ube and Potato, oh my! - Steamed Yam Cake 芋头糕

As I am writing this, I'm beginning to think that we Singaporean are a very awkward bunch. First and foremost, we have our own language which we like to called Singlish - an amalgamation of English and every other languages that we speak, e.g. Chinese, Hokkien, Malay etc.

Secondly, we like to named our dishes using the most confusing terminology that could possible known to the rest of the world just so they haven't a clue what they are in for when they order anything from our hawker centre.

Specimen 1:
Carrot Cake (a.k.a. Chai Tow Kway) which in fact uses neither carrot, nor is it really a cake. Well, not the conventional dessert/pudding kind anyway.

Specimen 2:
Oyster omelette are actually oyster fried eggs pancakes. If you order this, expecting to find the usual cigar shaped egg roll on a plate, you will be hugely disappointed. What you'll find is something best described as a cross between a car crash and a rumble of the oysters and the eggs. Looks rustic but taste incredible, just putting it out there.

Thirdly (and this really takes the biscuit of all mother of confusion) is the naming of our root vegetables. So let's get this straight. What we called a yam is actually know to the rest of the world as taro. And then we have the water yam (a.k.a. yuca) which is actually cassava to the rest of you. And the yam that you know of is what we, in Singapore, would confusingly called sweet potato. Just to make the matter worse, we also have the purple yam, known as ube to certain part of the world. This particular yam is also often confused with the Japanese purple sweet potato (Okinawa purple yam) which are also widely used in our pudding, especially for Bubor Cha Cha.

Pheww......talk about being all muddled up. I'm experiencing a lot of hair pulling moments just by writing up the above. But nevertheless, regardless of what we called it, this root vegetable (see above photo) is the main ingredient for this fantastic savoury cake. The method is similar to the turnip cake I've made a while back, which - not surprisingly - are made with radish and not turnip.

So I have come to a conclusion, don't try to understand us Singaporean , we are, as we say it in Singlish, sibeh chim or in simple English, DEEP.

Full stop.

Ingredients (Serves 4-6)

1 small yam/taro, roughly 400g, peeled and chopped into 1cm cube
2 lap cheong (Chinese sausage)
80g dried shrimp
100g dried shiitake mushrooms
3 shallots, skinned and finely chopped
1 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
250g rice flour
800ml tepid water
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground white pepper
Sweet flour sauce /kecap manis and chilli sauce, to serve

For the crispy fried shallots:
4 shallots, skinned and thinly sliced
3 tbsp groundnut or sunflower oil

 For the garnishes:
2 spring inions, cut into rings
1 large red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
1 small handful of fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
lightly toasted sesame seeds


Method


Prepare the steamer and steam the yam/taro for 15 minutes until they are cooked. Set aside.

For the fried shallots, heat the oil in a pan and fry the shallots gently over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, until they starts turning golden brown. Do not allow them to burnt or they will taste bitter. Remove and drain on some kitchen paper.



Soak the dried shrimps and mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain and reserve the water. Finely chopped the shrimps and mushrooms and set aside.

While the shrimps are soaking, place the lap cheung/Chinese sausage in a steamer and steam in a wok or a large pan, over simmering water  for 10 minutes. Remove and finely diced.

Heat the oil in a wok or pan over medium heat. add the diced lap cheung/sausage and stir-fry for 2 minutes, until fragrant. Dish out and set aside. 

In the same wok, add the shallots and garlic and fry for 1 minutes before adding the chopped shrimps and mushrooms and fry for another minute. Add the rice wine and continue to fry until the liquid has evaporated. Remove and plate with the Chinese sausages.

In a large mixing bowl, sift in the rice flour and whisk in the water along with the reserved dried shrimps water until smooth. Cover and leave to stand for 20-25 minutes.

Cook the flour mixture in a wok over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2- minutes, until the mixture thicken. Turn off the heat and stir in the cooked yam, lap cheung, fried dried shrimp mixture, sugar, salt and pepper and mix to a paste. 

Pour the mixture into a well-oiled 23cm (9in) round or square cake tin. Cover with a foil and steam in a steamer for 50-60 minutes, until set and cooked through. 

Remove from the steamer and leave to cool slightly before slicing and serving them warm, sprinkled with the fried shallots and garnishes, along with some sweet flour sauce/kecap manis and chilli sauce on the side.

Alternatively, the sliced yam cake can also be served pan fried like the turnip cakes.