Steamed Yam Paste (Orh Ni)

 芋泥

I use pork lard for my orh ni to make this dessert more fragrant. Try it! You will love it.

Ingredients

1 yam (1 kg yam can yield around 10 small servings of orh ni)

rock sugar (16% of weight of yam) - crushed to very small pieces

water (16% of weight of yam)

6 to 8 tablespoons pork lard 

200ml coconut milk (packet or freshly squeezed)

200g Pumpkin - optional topping

100g Gingko nuts (de-shelled, de-skined and centre pit removed) - optional topping

Method:

1. Peel the pumpkin and cut into small wedges. Add 30g rock sugar to the pumpkin. Mix them up and set aside for at least half hour. Steam them for 30 minutes or until soft. You can keep the pumpkin as-is or mash them up during serving. Keep the liquid that oozed out from the sugared-pumpkin (for step 4).

2. Prepare the gingko nuts by boiling them with water (around just enough to cover the nuts) and 30g rock sugar until the nuts are soft. Alternatively, coat the gingko nuts with rock sugar one day before, and pouring hot water into the nuts the next day. 

3. Prepare the coconut milk by heating it up (do not boil) with a pinch of salt. Then chill in fridge.

4. Peel the yam and take the weight so as to calculate the quantity required for rock sugar and water. Cut the yam into small pieces and steam for 30 minutes or until soft and mashable. Mash the steamed yam when it is still hot by pressing them through a sieve. Heat wok with pork lard on medium-low heat. Add the mashed yam, remaining rock sugar, and water (including the pumpkin liquid from step 1, if using). Stir using wooden spatula until you get a smooth yam paste. 

5. To serve, scoop the yam paste into a small bowl, add pumpkin (if using) and gingko nuts. Then drizzle coconut milk over. Enjoy!