Monday, April 20, 2009

Savoury Steamed Pumpkin Cake

I recently acquired a small collection of my Mum's favourite recipes and cookbooks. This is incredibly important to me because my Mum, like most people's Mums, is the best cook I know and I desperately want to learn to cook like her. A lot of her recipes are on scraps of paper, with measurements in ounces and some were only lists of ingredients with no instructions. I have made it my mission while she is here to spend some time watching her prepare some of her recipes.

(I also have to remind myself to buy a recipe book to keep all my favourite recipes because my fridge magnet is struggling with the load of recipes it has to hold up on my fridge door.)

One great recipe is her steamed pumpkin cake made with rice flour. It's similar to the steamed taro cake and white radish cake that you can get at yum cha, but I think that the pumpkin is the winner.

Steamed Savoury Pumpkin Rice Cake
4 tbsp oil
6 garlic cloves, chopped
6 shallots, chopped
60g dried prawns, soaked and chopped
2 pairs Chinese sausages, diced
200g pork mince, 6 tbsp oil
600g pumpkin, shredded
1 tbsp chicken stock powder

Batter:(mixed)
300g rice flour
60g tapioca flour
4 cups water
1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper

Heat up the oil, fry the chopped garlic and shallots until fragrant. Add dried prawns and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the chinese sausage, minced meat and stir-fry until fragrant.

Mix in pumpkin, chicken stock and batter. Stir until thick. Taste. (Hahahaha I love these instructions!) Pour into a 22cm square tray and steam for 45 minutes with high heat until cooked. Remove, leave to cool and cut into serving pieces. It can also be fried with a little oil until golden brown on both sides before serving.

This pumpkin cake is extremely moreish. Mum serves it with freshly chopped spring onions, red chillis and thinly sliced deep fried spring onions sprinkled on top. It is absolute gold with any good chilli sauce. If you aren't lucky enough to have some good homemade sauce, Lingham's chilli sauce is a good substitute.
Print Friendly and PDF Pin It

6 comments:

  1. That looks truly fantastic, and since I just picked my last pumpkin I think I know what it's fate is going to have to be! Also glad you believe in feeding the cook- I love those instructions too :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haha thanks! The instructions are just as they were written down on my Mum's scraps of paper and I wouldn't be one to go against them! Awesome, I'd love to know what you think of the recipe :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. my mum makes this with yam - haven't seen it done with pumpkin before but oh(!) doesn't it make the best mid afternoon pick up snack all warm from reheating and with a splodge of good hot chilli sauce?

    ReplyDelete
  4. My Mum used to make this with yam too and then one day she switched to pumpkin (and never looked back!). I prefer the pumpkin because it is lighter and not starchy :) Ohh yeah it's SO good just like that!

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's always lovely to have your mum's special recipe. I've never seen anything like this before... I'm so intrigued by it, that I really want to try it! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love it, though it is something I grew up with so it's a bit of a comfort food for me :) I know some people aren't a big fan of these types of dishes because they are very gluey-glutinous but I think it's great!

    ReplyDelete

Comments are moderated and will be published ASAP. If you are viewing this on your phone, you might have to click the Preview button before posting your comment for it to work. People who comment make my day! ♥