Fried Sago Cake [Sago Char] - How to Prepare Sago Cake

Sago is a form of starch and easily found in Malaysia in a form of small beads at sundry shops or supermarkets. It used to be a very cheap ingredient for cooking this dish. My great grandma and grandaunt will usually prepare this for festive praying in the olden days because it is cheap since the family is not well off.

How to prepare Sago Cake for frying?

To some people it maybe tedious but once you have done it, it is not difficult. If cooking for lunch, you can prepare other ingredients for frying first then only prepare the sago for steaming and cutting before lunch.

Method 1 -  steam sago cake



Method 2 - to boil in a wok of boiling water until cooked or translucent

Ingredients

300 gm sago [do not wash]

30 ml [2 tbsp] oil

2 cups of water

1. Mix sago with oil and water in a bigger container with cover for at least 4 hours or overnight. Then bring together the soaked sago and knead it into a compact dough.
2. Press the dough into a steaming tray and steam in boiling water for about 20 - 25 minutes until the dough is cooked and looks translucent. Can steam in several batches depending on the size of the steaming tray. Note - make sure the sago is well pressed to get a nice texture. See photos for preparation of sago cake.
3. After steaming, put steamed sago cake under running tap water to cool and for easy removal from tray. When cool remove sago cake into another container with enough water to cover the cake. To cut - remove sago cake from water, cut into 1" wide strips then cut into thin shreds. Set aside.

Note: Please refer to the next post on how to fry the sago cake [in Penang,  Hokkiens call it sago char]