Susan Pehs steamed yam cake

Susan Peh — senior director of Singapore-based law firm Yeo-Leong & Peh LLC — loves to cook. And it all started from her childhood.

“When I was very young, I used to watch my mum cook daily,” she says. “Both my parents love food and I am grateful that they allowed me to experiment with cooking from a young age. In secondary school, it was compulsory to take cooking lessons. We had strict teachers who taught us discipline, good hygiene and also the importance of pleasant presentation of our dishes, not for the worship of beauty, but out of love and respect for the people for whom we cook for.”

The accomplished pianist, Chairlady of the Jazz Association(Singapore) Gala Committee, and the Vice Chairperson of the Jazz Association (Singapore) also loves cooking shows, where she is constantly inspired to try new dishes. “I especially enjoy those hosted by Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, Julia Child as well as the Masterchefs,” Susan continues. “One of my favourite sources of culinary inspiration is YouTube where you can find both audio and visual step-by-step illustrations. It is so much easier to grasp than reading from a cookbook. I’ve always been inspired by Julia Child. She gave a fresh meaning to food and cooking with her television programmes and cookbooks. She not only inspired women to empower themselves through cooking but also motivated the world with her love, passion and wit.”

Another person who inspired her love for cooking was a teacher she met during her formative years.

“When I was in primary school, a very kind school teacher brought us out for dim sum lunch as a treat,” Susan remembers fondly. “I was amazed by the array of dim sum dishes that were being displayed on pushcarts, and one such dish was steamed yam cake, which is also known as Wu Tou Gou in Cantonese.”

She explains further: “The colourful garnishes caught my eye but what impressed me the most was the smooth texture that was filled with luscious and aromatic flavour of yam, together with the accompanying fragrant condiments. Since then, steamed yam cake has always been my ‘comfort food’ and also a constant reminder of a primary school teacher’s kindness.”

According to Susan, this is a relatively simple recipe to follow and you can improvise to your tastebuds. “I gathered recipes from various cookbooks including online ones and eventually developed my own. For this dish, I named it Summer Treasures.”

The whole process takes about one and a half hours including preparation time. Once done, Susan suggests pairing your sweet labour with a glass of moscato, Brut rosé or lychee champagne.

Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients (serves 6 to 8)
500-600g yam
100g dried prawns
4 dried Chinese mushrooms
5 tablespoons cooking oil
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon five spice powder
1 tablespoon light soya sauce
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
6 small whole shallots
6 cloves of garlic
1 slice Chinese barbecued pork (bak kwa)
1 piece Chinese sausage (lap cheong)
170g rice flour
30g tapioca or corn starch
300ml soaking water (comprising water drained from dried prawns and mushrooms)
700ml chicken stock

Garnish
2 sprigs spring onions, chopped
2 sprigs coriander, chopped
1 large red chilli cut into small strips
1 tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds

Optional
1 sprig spring onions sliced into thin, curly strips for decoration
1 sprig coriander, cut for decoration

Directions

1. Rinse and soak dried prawns in 120ml of warm water for about 30 minutes. Strain the dried prawns, pat dry with kitchen paper and keep the soaking water for use later. Chop the dried prawns into smaller pieces and set aside

2. Remove mushroom stems. Rinse and soak in 180ml of warm water for about 30 minutes or until soft. Strain the mushrooms and keep the soaking water for use later. Cut the mushrooms into small ½ cm bits or larger if desired

3. Cut off the white parts of the yam and keep only the parts with purple veins. Cut into 1 to 2cm cubes and set aside in a large plate

4. Cut the sliced Chinese barbecued meat (bak kwa) into small bits

5. Cut lap cheong into small bits

6. Peel shallots, rinse and slice thinly

7. Peel garlic and shop into small pieces

8. In a wok, toast the bak kwa and lap cheong separately without any oil, over medium fire for about 1 minute each until fragrant. Leave 1/4 of each for garnishing later

9. Heat five tablespoons of cooking oil in the wok. When oil is heated, add sliced shallots and stir-fry over medium heat until light golden brown. Remove shallots and set aside ¼ for garnishing later

10. Reheat oil used to fry shallots. Remove any remnants of fried shallots. Add chopped garlic and fry until lightly golden. Then add yam cubes and fry over medium fire until soft and fragrant for about three minutes. Do not overcook. Turn off heat. Remove yam cubes, strain and leave oil in wok. Take out about ½ teaspoon oil to grease the cake pan later.

11. Transfer the fried yam cubes in a bowl and add in salt and five spice powder. Mix evenly and set aside

12. With about 2 tablespoons oil from the wok, reheat until very hot. Add dried prawns and stir-fry until light golden and crispy. The dried prawns will start to pop. Remove ¼ of it for garnishing

13. Add mushroom bits and stir-fry until fragrant. Add light soya sauce, Chinese cooking wine, sesame oil, oyster sauce and ground white pepper. Stir until evenly mixed and turn off fire

14. Combine all the fried dried prawns, mushrooms, bak kwa, lap cheong and ¾ of fried shallots with the fried yam cubes. Stir lightly until evenly mixed

15. Grease bottom and all sides of the cake pan with the ¼ teaspoon oil used earlier and set aside

Rice flour/tapioca starch mixture

16. Heat wok. Add 300 ml soaking water and add rice flour, tapioca/corn starch and stir until mixture is smooth. Add hot chicken stock and continue to stir and mix evenly

17. Set heat to low. Stir continuously and lower the heat (or turn off) should lumps start to appear. As the batter thickens, continue stirring. If batter turns too thick and lumpy, do not panic. Just add a bit more chicken stock or water and continuously stir over low fire. Once batter is smoothened and thick, add all the fried ingredients. Adjust according to your taste by adding more soya sauce, oyster sauce or pepper (if necessary). Stir over low heat until batter is thick enough to coat the spatula without dripping

18. Transfer batter into cake pan and smoothen out. Steam over boiling water for about 40 minutes. Test with skewer in the middle of batter. If it comes out clean, it is ready

19. Turn off heat. Place steamed yam cake on silicon or wire mat to cool and firm up for at least an hour. You can also keep it in the refrigerator overnight

20. To serve, cut to desired portions and fry with garlic and beaten eggs until fragrant. Alternatively, you can re-steamed the portions (if left in the refrigerator overnight)

21. Garnish generously with spring onions, chilli, fried shallots, dried prawns, bak kwa and lap cheong bits, toasted sesame seeds and serve with best-loved chilli sauce

The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.

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