Yam (Onni) Kuih

Recently, I behaved like a typical obasan (housewife), in this case a very stupid one and bought too much yam, more than what I know to do with it. The lady in the market said they were beautiful and asked me to buy more and I ended up with 3 kg plus.

Besides making two yam fudge cake (one for dad and one for the Chap Goh Meh dinner), I made some yam chips and a yam jelly for the cell. And I still have another kg left. So I was in desperate need for a recipe that uses a lot of yam because I couldn't and wouldn't want to do another yam related dish for the next two months at least.

Luckily I managed to dig out this recipe. This is another version of yam kuih which is very very popular in Kuching. To deviate from the usual yam kuih in my previous blog, this version is the sweetish savoury version with glutinous rice on the bottom layer, onni (sweet yam paste) as 2nd layer and finally the savoury toppings. I am not sure about its origins, but it could have been from Thailand. This is my second tryout and this time the result was even better than the first. All the layers are baby soft yet firm enough to bite into.

Bottom Layer:

500gm of glutinous rice, cleaned and soaked for an hour or so

620gm of coconut juice, squeeze from 1/2 kg of coconut + 1 1/2 cup of water, add a little water to get to the weight

2 leaves of pandan, tied into knot

2 teasp of salt

2 tablesp of sugar

1) Mix all ingredients evenly and place them in a pre-greased (with cooking oil) baking tin (i use 10 inch square).

2) Steam for 18 minutes on high fire. Mixture should be about 60% done. Flip the rice to top down and bottom up and fluff it up a bit. This is to make sure that the coconut juice is evenly distributed to the grain.

3) Steam for another 18 to 20 minutes, till grains are soft and cooked. It is better to be softer cause once cooled, the grain can be hard if too dry.

4) Dish out and press into a 9 inch loose bottom baking tin. Press evenly.

Onni (Yam Paste) Layer:

850 to 950 gm of yam, cubed steam cooked and mashed finely

280gm to 300gm of sugar

200 to 220gm of water

100 to 150gm of cooking oil

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1) In a heat up wok, stir in yam. Add 1/2 of water and and continue stirring til yam looks wet. Add 1/2 of sugar. Then rest of water. Continue stirring. Mixture will start to look sticky. Add rest of sugar. Stir till sugar dissolve.

2) Add oil in two batches. Cook until mixture resembles a paste and leaves the side of the wok. If you like it super smooth, bamix it (Nee's Lazy term for blend with a hand-held blender).

3) Dish out and place onto of bottom layer. Press evenly.

Topping:

150gm of salted radish (Chai Po), washed and taste for saltiness. Not to over-wash otherwise it will taste bland. Chop/blend into little pieces.

90gm of dried prawns, washed and blended into little pieces.

3-4 stalks of spring onion, chopped into little pieces

2-3 med big chillies, with or without seeds depending on taste, chopped into little pieces

1 tbsp of minced red onion

1 tbsp of minced garlic

sugar, pepper to taste

4 tbsp of oil

1) With some oil, fry the dried prawns pieces to fragrant. Dish out.

2) Add some more oil and continue stir frying onion, garlic and chai po till fragrant. Add back dried prawns and finally spring onion and chillies. Dish out and press evenly onto the onni layer.

Cool for 2-3 hours before cutting. Best to be consume on the day it was made. If you fridge it, steam the amount you want for a few minutes to soften the rice before eating.