Steamed taro cake

You may not guess at first glance that this savoury taro cake is packed with flavour from Chinese sausage, dried shrimp and five spice. A garnish of spring onion, peanut and chilli gives it colour, crunch and heat.

Steamed taro cake Credit: Poh's Kitchen

• serves

  8

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  55 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups rice flour
• ½ cup cornflour
• 1 litre cool water
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup firmly packed dried shrimps soaked in hot water, squeezed, finely chopped
• 2 Chinese sausages (lap cheong), finely chopped
• 400 g taro, diced into 1 cm cubes
• 1 tsp five spice powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• ⅓ cup chopped spring onions
• ¼ cup roasted peanuts, crushed
• ¼ cup fried shallots
• 1 mild red chilli, finely chopped

Garlic chilli sauce

• 10 long red chillies, deseeded, roughly chopped
• ½ head of garlic
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
• ¼ cup peanut oil

Instructions

1. Make sure you have a wok and lid big enough to accommodate a 22–23 cm round cake tin. Place a cooling rack in the wok. Fill with enough water to reach 2 cm below rack. Heat water to a gentle simmer.
2. Mix rice flour and cornflour with the water to make a thin batter.
3. Heat oil in wok on medium. Sauté shrimp and sausage for 5 minutes, or until coloured and fragrant. Add taro, five spice, salt and sugar. Cook, stirring and scraping the sides of the pan continuously, for 10–15 minutes, or until mixture is a thick starchy paste. Taste and season further if necessary.
4. Transfer to greased 22–23 cm round cake tin. Increase heat so water is boiling. Steam cake with lid on wok for 40–45 minutes. Don't worry if cake looks a little wobbly when first out of the steamer, as it will firm up on cooling. Sprinkle spring onions, peanuts, fried shallots and chilli over top of cake and cool to room temperature.
5. Garlic chilli sauce Blitz chillies, garlic, vinegar, salt and sugar in a blender, or grind in a mortar and pestle, to create a smooth paste. Pour into a saucepan and bring to boil. Allow to cool. Whisk in peanut oil to emulsify.
6. To serve, cut taro cake into diamonds (while still in tin), about 4 cm long. Lift each piece out and arrange in a circle to form a flower. Serve with garlic chilli sauce at room temperature. You may refrigerate and re-steam if there are leftovers.

 

Poh's Kitchen, season 1 to season 3, premieres on Tuesday 20 November at 8.30pm. The series airs Tuesdays at 8.30pm on SBS Food (Channel 33). After they air, episodes will stream at SBS On Demand. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.