Yummy Yam Cake

This is another taste of home when I was growing up. My mother made all kinds of Hakka dishes with yam, and always insisted that how the dishes turned out all depended on the quality of the yam. I actually learned how to make yam cake in school when they still had domestic science classes, but I haven't made this particular dish in years. So I was quite pleased when I attempted this recently and it turned out really yammy and yummy!

Yam cake is really street food rather than a fancy restaurant dish, and I used to be able to find pretty good offerings from the market or street stalls. But I guess with the rising costs of everything, street bought yam cake just lacks enough yam and toppings to be lip-smackingly good. I've managed to find some good recipes on the internet and come up with my own version that has all my favorite toppings in it. Of course, just like my mother, I, too, insist that it all depends on the kind of yam. The kind that works best has a floury rather than crunchy texture, but you really can't tell until you cut up the yam into pieces and steam it. So it's all kind of luck whether you get a good yam.

Steamed Yam Cake

Ingredients
250 gm yam, cubed
1 Chinese sausage
3 mushrooms
40 gm dried shrimp, 30 gm dried scallops
200 gm rice flour mixed with 3 tsp cornstarch
250 ml soaked shrimp water
350 ml water
10 shallots

Seasoning
½ tsp salt
¼ 5-spice powder
1 tbp oyster sauce
1 tbp soya sauce
1 tbp sugar
Dash of pepper

Method
Chop up dried shrimp and mushrooms. Slice shallots.
Fry cubed yam and set aside. Sprinkle 5-spice powder.
Fry shallots, then add shrimp, then mushrooms.
Add water and seasoning. Taste and adjust accordingly.
Add mixture of rice flour and cornstarch mixed with some water.
Add yam.
When thickened, place mixture in steaming tray.
Steam for 30-35 minutes.
Garnish with fried shallots.
When cooled, slice and serve with chilli sauce.