Thursday, February 21, 2008

Or Nee or Yam Paste


The transition to Autumn is a little weird this year. One day we are enduring the roasting heat at a 35C and the next day we are looking a cloudy skies and cool wind at 20C!

I admit that during the CNY season, I was homesick. For a moment, I was even contemplating making my grandmother's famous yam cake. I dropped that idea rather quickly as that would require a whole morning of work. Besides, it's my grandmother's recipe so I think it deserves the concentration when I do decide to attempt it.

The other alternative of course is to make something yam related.

I haven't had yam paste for years. Since I came to Perth actually=which works out to be about nearly 8+ years now? I admit that I wasn't a big fan of it previously. I was a fan of desserts served cold rather than a warm paste in sunny Singapore! I suppose as one grows up, taste buds change too.

The yam paste that I made was not as smooth as I would like it to be but it was my impatience that was at fault. After all, I whipped this up in under 20 minutes. To give this a decent go, it would probably need 30 minutes with a good masher in place.

I didn't follow any recipe but went with my gut feeling. I know that traditional recipes would probably use more oil, which I am avoiding. My solution was to use milk instead. Milk gives it the creamy taste without making you feel sick afterwards!

And my memory is failing me. I bought ginkgo nuts for this and I FORGOT to add it!

I spotted Rasa Malaysia's entry for Sweet Yam Paste afterwards and hers looked so lovely and smooth. You can spot some lumps in mine. Coincidently, we used ground peanuts to decorate the yam paste. LOL.


Yam Paste or Or Nee (serves 4-5)
700 grams of yam chopped in pieces
1/4 cup of sugar
1 cup of skim milk (or more)
1/4 to 1/2 cup of olive oil

ground peanuts/sliced almonds for ganishing

Boil yam till soft. Mash till it is smooth. You may want to add some milk to help. Return to stove and slowly add the oil. Keep stirring till it becomes a smooth paste. If it is still too chunky, add more milk. Continue stirring. Add sugar by the tablespoons until it is to your desired sweetness. Garnish with peanuts.

note: I made this for dessert tonight (the first time I attempted this was 1 month ago) and made some changes. Boil the yam for about 15-20 minutes so it becomes easy to mash. Stirring is the key for a smooth paste. I served this with sliced almonds and it tasted as good as peanuts (if not better).

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Darn. Now you got me craving for this. My hubs will love this as he loves all things yam...and me.

Retno Prihadana said...

Ahh...looks yummy. I haven´t try this dish. How the taste like?

Anonymous said...

Hi daphne, I'm here again...after so long...
Not really difficult to prepare, can try it out when I'm thinking to have it, hehe...

tigerfish said...

My fav Teochew dessert!

SIG said...

Wah so smart, even can think of how to make it. I only know how to eat it. Kekeke. Haha, but I totally agree with the changing of tastebuds bit. I think it's a fact of life. Stuff I never would dream of eating when young, I eat them now. Maybe older then the tastebuds not so acute. Haha.

Hazza said...

nothing like a carb overload, eh! :)Recipe looks and sounds unhealthily yummy!

Little Corner of Mine said...

I love Or Nee too without the ginko nuts. I should make this sometimes!

daphne said...

Lyrical lemongrass- Me too! Oh.. I'm thinking of slow stewed pork with yam now.

retno-it's sweet and thick!

celine- ya! It's not hard, just that the stirring takes abit of effort. =)

tigerfish-hehe..u r in taiwan right, there should be lots of yam paste there no?

singairishgirl-good point about tastebuds being acute. I hated spring onions but now I think they are nice.

hazza-not as bad as you think! =) Yam has low GI which makes it a good carb. The reduction of oil means it is healthier.

little corner-yeah. I tried it with ginko nuts last night and didn't like it as much as without.

Anonymous said...

A cool 20 degree? Come on! It's minus 10 in New York and we're expecting a blizzard tomorrow! hahaha. Feel bad for me instead!

Rasa Malaysia said...

The oilier the better. LOL. I love Or Nee...so good. Hey, ground peanuts make good topping mah. ;)

Wandering Chopsticks said...

My favorite Trieu Chau dessert too! I can't believe you forgot the gingko nuts. :P

~Christine~Leng said...

omg.. you have the recipe for Or Nee! I love this!! thx ;)

East Meets West Kitchen said...

I love Or Nee!

teckiee said...

love the oh ne.. but, i dont really dare to eat too much of this because it makes me fart.. a lot!

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