Teochew Steamed Yam Cake

This is really one of my favourite food in Singapore!

It's a Teochew Steamed Yam Cake and it's super super delicious!

We call it 'kueh' actually, and it's made from rice flour instead of your normal kind of flour.

You don't need an oven for this, and you can't go wrong at all if you follow my recipe. ^^

The reason why I made this one night was because I accidentally finished eating the yam cake my mum's friend made for her! Yes!! One whole 6 inch big piece like this! I'm so terrible. -___-" She was upset because you can't buy such delicious wholesome ones outside. You know, chunky yam pieces, mushrooms that were stir-fried till they are super fragrant, generous servings of char siew sprinkled here and there, and the most delicious garnish of lard, crispy baby prawns and freshly chopped spring onions, thinly sliced chilli....

It's really so delicious! 

So I told her, "AHhhh!! This is easy to make. I will make one for you right away."

And I did! Haha! And she loved it!

My version is really simple but delicious all the same! Check out the really simple ingredients. I hope you will attempt to this recipe! ^^

Ingredients (serves 4~6):

- 150g rice flour (soak in 450ml water/vegetable soup/chicken soup for at least 30 minutes before cooking)

- 400g yam (skin removed, diced, and soaked in water)

- 6 pieces of mushroom (rinsed and soaked in hot water until soft enough to dice. You can even use this flavoured water to part of your 450ml water mixture. ^^)

 

- 4 tablespoons of dried shrimps (soaked in water until soft, washed thoroughly and pounded or diced finely) (optional)

- 3 tablespoons sesame oil
- salt & pepper to taste

Garnish:
- 2 tablespoons of dried shrimps, fried (optional)
- 1 spring onion, cut finely
- 1 red chilli, sliced

1. In a big wok, using medium flame, stir-fry dried shrimps in sesame oil until fragrant.

2. Add in mushrooms and fry for another 3 minutes.

3. Drain diced yam and add to the wok.

4. Fry until yam changes colour.

5. Stir rice mixture till well-blended and pour into wok. Turn to small flame.

6. Add salt and pepper. Mix evenly.

7. Keep stirring the mixture in the wok until mixture thickens.

8. When mixture thickens, turn off fire. Pour mixture into a round or square container for steaming.

9. Steam for about 30 minutes. It's done when your yam is thoroughly cooked. To check, poke a fork into the yam. The yam should break easily.

10. Garnish your steamed yam cake and cut into slices to serve! ^^

Soooo yummy!!! ^^

* You can add in Char siew (Chinese BBQ pork) or chinese sausage or lean meat to your yam cake at Step 2. I had leftover mixture so I tried adding Otah in it to make it a spicy flavour!

I really love eating steamed yam cake. It's not difficult to make, just a lot of preparation work. And even so, the preparation work is mostly cutting and slicing stuff, so it's not difficult. I hope you will try it and impress your family!

You can replace yam with thinly sliced carrots, diced pumpkin, and maybe even sweet potatoes! That'd be interesting! I haven't had Steamed Sweet Potato Cake before! hehe! ^^ I may make it next time!

Where to buy:

1. Rice Flour

You can get it in any supermarkets easily on the Flour shelf.

Do not confuse it with Glutinous Rice Flour! 




If you like this recipe, please 'like' Happy Girls Cute Food for even more easy recipes you can make!!! ^^ Updated daily~ ^^

When you thought I wasn't looking

I saw this from Paulo Coelho's blog, and I really liked it, so I want to share this with you. :)

by Mary Rita Schilke Korzan
 

When you thought I wasn’t looking

You hung my first painting on the refrigerator

And I wanted to paint another.

When you thought I wasn’t looking

You fed a stray cat

And I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn’t looking

You baked a birthday cake just for me

And I knew that little things were special things.

When you thought I wasn’t looking

You said a prayer

And I believed there was a God that I could always talk to.

When you thought I wasn’t looking

You kissed me good-night

And I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn’t looking

I saw tears come from your eyes

And I learned that sometimes things hurt—

But that it’s alright to cry.

When you thought I wasn’t looking

You smiled

And it made me want to look that pretty too.

When you thought I wasn’t looking

You cared

And I wanted to be everything I could be.

When you thought I wasn’t looking—

I looked . . .

And wanted to say thanks

For all those things you did

When you thought I wasn’t looking.

Oyako Don

One night, I was watching television and this programme taught how to make Oyako Don!

Oyako Don is a Chicken-and-Egg Rice bowl. Oyako means Parent-and-Child, so it's easy to understand why this dish uses chicken meat and egg right? ^^

I once went to a Japanese restaurant and there was this item on the menu: 他人丼 (Ta-nin Don)

Ta-nin means stranger. 

I was very curious because I've never seen this dish before, so I asked the chef what it was. He explained that, instead of chicken meat, he used pork. A pig and an egg are not related, so it's ta-nin (stranger) don. 

Haha!  It's interesting right!

My Ta-nin Don!

So, you can make ta-nin don too, if you are not fond of chicken meat. Honestly, I'm not a fan of chicken meat. ^^" But, I was strangely attracted to making Oyako Don for that week. I wanted to see if I could make it delicious.

For Oyako Don, these are the ingredients you need:

Ingredients (Serves 2):

- 2 chicken drumsticks (chopped into bite-sized pieces)

- 1/2 teaspoon of salt

- sprinkle of white pepper

- 1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)

- 1 teaspoon of mirin / hua diao jiu (optional)

- 1 teaspoon of cornflour

- 1 onion

- 1 tablespoon of soy sauce

- 3 tablespoons of water

- 1 tablespoon of mirin

- 2 eggs

- 1 stalk of spring onion, chopped into tiny pieces

- 1 cup of rice, cooked

Side vegetables (Optional)

- A few leaves of cabbage

- 1 teaspoon of salt

- 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar

- 1 tablespoon of sugar

- 1 stalk of spinach

How to prepare chicken:

I'm sure some supermarkets sell chicken thigh meat that are already prepared for you (deboned, de-skinned, chopped into bite-sized pieces). Or, if you are buying from the market, you can ask the chicken seller to help you do it. 

However, if like me, you could only find chicken drumsticks like these...

...I'm actually going to teach you how to peel off the skin and debone your thigh meat for this recipe. If you are scared of meat, or disgusted by meat, I'm really sorry. >"< You may use vegetables to replace chicken meat. ^^"

If you find this too hard, get prepared ones, or chicken breast meat which will be so much easier to handle. 

1. Wash the chicken. I washed it 3 times.

2. Drain the chicken on a colander. 

3. Make a cut at one part of the chicken's skin and peel off the skin slowly. At hard to peel places, use your knife to cut it away from the meat.

4. Your chicken now has no more skin. 

5. Using this similar method, make a cut at one part of the chicken's meat till you hit the bone with your knife. Now, slowly use your knife and cut around the bone, removing the chicken meat. You will end up with a piece of chicken fillet.

6. Now, chicken meat has super many tendons, and one of the major reasons why I hate eating chicken is this. So, cut them away from the meat. This is very easy and straightforward. You see a white tendon, just pull it, then use your knife to slice it off. 

7. Chop your chicken into bite-sized pieces and season it with salt, pepper, sesame oil, mirin, cornflour. Mix thoroughly with your fingers.

8. Slice your onions! 

9. Add onions into a pot. Add in soysauce, water, and mirin. Boil them under high flame.

10. Beat egg slightly. You still want to be able to see some egg white so your finished Oyako-Don will look pretty with white and yellow egg streaks~

11. Add in chicken and let them simmer in the pot till fully cooked (about 15 mins)!

12. Add in half of your egg mixture.

13. Just before serving, add in the other half of the egg mixture and garnish with spring onions. 

14. Prepare 2 hot steaming bowls of rice. Divide chicken-and-egg mixture into the 2 bowls, on top of the rice.

Side vegetables (optional):

15. Boil spinach until leaves are slightly soft (about 1 minute). Drain and put on rice.

16. Boil cabbage leaves until soft (about 3 minutes). Season with salt, vinegar, and sugar. Pour out excess liquid. Add onto rice. 

And we're done~!!!! ^^

Even though I cooked this myself, I still don't really like chicken meat and didn't really want to eat it. Haha! If you don't like chicken meat like me, you can replace with lots of mushrooms/ some other meat! I think it would still be delicious~ I think it's delicious because of the egg and sauce. Hehe! My sauce mixture for this recipe is awesome~! So please try it! 

Where to buy:

1. Mirin

All major supermarkets. Check out the Japanese section! ^^ I'm using Kikkoman!