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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Steamed Yam Cake [Orh Kuih]

Steamed yam cake [orh kuih] is a very common steamed cake usually available at hawker stalls selling Chee Cheong Fun, Chai Kuih or some food stalls selling ready cooked dishes and Nyonya kuihs.
This is a good and easy recipe for Yam Cake which I like very much.
Yam cake with garmishing
Recipe Source from Tiga Gajah Cho Heng Sdn Bhd, Penang
Ingredients - Batter Mixture
270 gm rice flour
100 gm wheat starch
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp msg
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1000 ml water
  • Mix all ingredients together, stir well and strain.  Set aside.  Stir again before adding to fried yam.
    Ingredients for Batter
Ingredients - Garnishing
100 gm dried prawns - washed and pounded
1 tbsp oil
1 red chilli - finely chopped
1 stalk spring onions - cut into small pieces
75 gm fried sliced shallots
  • Fry dried prawns in oil till fragrant, remove to cool.
400 gm yam - either steam half portion and mashed and add to batter mixture or cut whole portion into small cubes.
3 tsp oil
2 cloves garlic - chopped
  • Heat oil in wok and saute garlic till fragrant.  Add in cubed yam to fry for 5-10 minutes till aromatic.  Add in a little of fried dried prawns.  Stir to mix well and pour in  2/3 portion of the batter.  Continue stirring on medium heat till batter thickens.  Off fire and add in the balance [1/3 portion] batter.  Stir to mix well.
  • Pour into a greased 10" steaming tray.  Smooth the surface and steam over high heat for 30 minutes.
  • After steaming, sprinkle dried prawns evenly over yam cake.  Cool and before serving, sprinkle spring onions, chilli and fried shallots on yam cake.  
  • Cut and serve with chilli sauce [recipe here for homemade chilli sauce].
Fry dried prawns and yam cubes
Before steaming
After steaming for 30 minutes before adding garnishing

4 comments:

Lynn said...

hi Kimmy, I made this on last Sunday. I followed your recipe closed to the T. I like to ask you when frying the yam cube, is it necessary to fry till cook or soft? I fried mine to slightly brown... not cook through or soft. The 30mins steaming was not able to soften the yam but just cook. Is this same as yours?
After leaving to cool, the texture was a little hard, chewy and dry, not moist. I prefer moist.
I believe there must have somewhere I have done wrong. are you able to point out?
can I freeze the cake?



Lynn

Kimmy said...

Hi Lynn, thanks for your feedback, it's okay to fry till slightly brown but aromatic. The steaming time is between 30-40 minutes over high heat. Whether the yam is cooked or soft depends on the quality and type of yam used. Thai yam is usually soft but not that fragrant while some local yam will turn out to be like what you described. The steamed cake should be chewy and moist. Best to spread the topping [fried dried prawns] before the cake is cool. This helps to prevent the top from drying. I don't think it is good idea to freeze this cake. Haven't try it before.

lynn said...

Hi Kimmy, the yam I used was longuish in shape. Seller said this is better.
How does Thai yam look like?

Kimmy said...

Hi Lynn, most sellers will say their yams are good. In a yam, not all parts are tender and soft after cooking. Thai yam is the round type, much cheaper than local yam. Usually soft and tender after cooking but not that fragrant as a good local yam.