Less Than Perfect Steamed Yam Cake

Uncle A gave us a giant yam. So I decided to make steamed yam cake.

My amateurish-looking steamed yam cake ... ;P

I've never made any steamed yam cake in my life! But Mom and Second Aunt are the pros - in fact, Second Aunt's yam cake is well-known to be the best, and the most popular amongst our friends and relatives.

So, with Mom watching over me, I made my very first steamed yam cake ever. I used Nasi Lemak Lover's recipe - using her exact measurement for the yam, flours and seasonings. However, I used only a handful of sliced shallots, 3 tablespoons of crispy fried minced dried prawns, 50g of mushrooms, 50g of Chinese sausages and 50g of minced pork and I omitted the sesame seeds.

I also used 500ml water as specified .... but after the mixture went into my wok, I found it to be too dry. I didn't know what consistency I had to achieve .... so here I called Mom to help me out; Mom added some water and some shallot oil till the flour mixture softened ....

Then we pressed it onto a cake tin and steamed it for 45 minutes; the result - hmn .... the cake itself was quite delicate in flavour; quite yum, but the texture was a bit firm; it would be perfect if it were a bit softer .... so I would probably add at least 300ml more of water to the flours should I repeat this recipe next time .... After thinking through, I would say that the water volume would depend on the variation/brand of rice flour used ....

For the topping, I had some chopped deep-fried shallots, crispy fried minced dried prawns, and about a tablespoon of stir-fried minced preserved radish, spring onions an chopped chillies.

Overall, the cake was tasty; I actually liked the rich flavour of the minced mushrooms and the slight sweetness from the Chinese sausages; and the ratio of the chopped ingredients, yam and flour was good. If only ... sigh .... if only the cake was a bit softer to the bite.

This evening, however, my less than perfect steamed yam cake was a hit with my church group sisters who finished one whole plate! A sister said that the firm texture of the cake made her chew longer and thus she was able to savour more of the flavour in her mouth! Lol!  

Care for some? 

After making this cake today, I sort of know what kind of consistency to look our for; and I am confident my next steamed yam cake would be more perfect than this one ... ;P