seasiafood 
Chinese Yam Cake
Today I am going talk about Yam Cake (Yu Tou Gao), one of my favorite Chinese dim sum. If you have no idea what Yam Cake is, you may think it is sweet dessert, like Cheese Cake, Chocolate Cake, some sweet stuff that Yam is added in, since its name is “Cakeâ€. Though it is a cake, but it is not sweet at all, in fact it’s salty and a bit fishy.
Yam Cake is usually consumed during breakfast or tea time, like Nasi Lemak or Roti Canai, one plate of Yam Cake and a cup of TehTarik already a substantial meal for the Chinese in Southeast Asia. It is very rare to find Yam Cake is consumed during lunch or dinner, simply because it is not a dish. Like other dim sum, Yam Cake is mainly consumed by Chinese, unless it is sold in a Halal restaurant.
It is never difficult to make Yam Cake, however it may take longer time to make than other Chinese Dim Sum. Well, when you enjoying the savory and delicious Yam Cake, you will find the time you spent on it is worth while.
Yam Cake ingredient:
| 300g rice flour | 400g yam |
| 100g wheat starch | 1L water |
| 3 clove garlic, crushed | 6 tbsp cooking oil |
| 2 tbsp salt | 1 tbsp five spice powder |
| Dash of pepper | 1 tbsp sugar |
| 150g dried shrimp, soaked and minced | 4 red shallot, sliced |
| 1 red chili, sliced (garnish) | 1 stalk spring onion, chopped (garnish) |
To make the Cake:
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Mix rice flour, wheat starch and water. Strain and stir well
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divide yam into 2 portions, cut one portion into cubes, while steam another portion until soft, then smash the softened yam and mix well with flour batter.
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Heat up a pan, add 3 tbsp oil to fry garlic till fragrant, add in yam cubes, five spice powder, salt, pepper and sugar, stir fry till mix well.
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Pour in flour mixture and stir continuously under medium heat until batter thicken.
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Pour thicken batter into a grease 10â€square tin and flatten the surface, steam for 30 minutes.
To make the Topping:
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heat up a pan, add 3 tbsp oil to fry sliced shallot till fragrant and crispy, drained, take out and set aside
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using the remaining oil to fry dried shrimp till fragrant, set aside.
Finally:
After the cake has been steamed for 30 minutes, immediately garnish with fried shallot, dried shrimp, red chilies and spring onion. Let the Yam Cake cool completely, then cut and served with chilies sauce.
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omg !!! bin looking for the recipe forever..thks for sharing wud u happen to hv a recipe for loh mai kai..???
ur a life saver as i’ve missed all this simple yet most wonderful homefood…
cheers mate…
Hi Kaprico,
so glad to know you love my food blog. Well, I haven’t post my Loh Mai Kai recipe yet, but coming soon, especially knowing that you are looking for this recipe. : ) see you around!
hiya Qi,
so happy to hear fr u n tat u will b posting the recipe soon, i’ve bin living in uk the past 10 yrs n bin trying to looks for homefood recipe for a long long time…
so glad to stumble upon yr blog, u hv done a huge favours for ppl like myself…
cheers matey n tc…!!
=D)
thanks for sharing it recipe, i am looking for this recipe a long time, my husband love to eat this cake, i try to do it a few times but it come out not right, hope this recipe will help me, can i use pumpkin to do as well !
Hey Theresa,
Glad to know that you and your hubby love yam cake. I never try using pumpkin to make yam cake, hmm, if only pumpkin is used, am afraid it will taste different, but no harm trying, since cooking is very much on creativity!
Maybe your hubby will love your version of yam cake than the normal one! Who knows~! : )