Fried Nian Gao and Sweet Potatoes with Spring Roll Wrapper

An interesting new way to serve nian gao that I noticed this year.  I was eager to try it and I did.  I saw a friend did a deep-fried nian gao with spring roll and she said it was delicious.  But I bought a sweet potato to go with my nian gao already and thus I wanted to incorporate the sweet potato into this spring roll.  Then, I saw another similar post while blog hopping.  That blogger used smashed steamed taro mixed with coconut flakes to wrap the nian gao and rolled it in the spring roll wrapper before deep-frying.  So, that was my "aha" moment.  I can steam and then smash my sweet potato before wrapping it with the nian gao and spring roll wrapper.  The idea was set and I got to work and the resulted product was really crispy and delicious.

I used the steamed nian gao that I did earlier.   The verdict of this nian gao is not what I was hoping for.  I wanted one that would melt when deep fried but this one was not.  It is not as fragrant too maybe it was because I didn't use the palm sugar but the Chinese bar sugar instead.  Therefore the color of this nian gao is not as dark brown.  Overall, it was an okay recipe, definitely not the best.  But I would try it again with palm sugar just to see whether it will have any difference (just want to experiment :-P).

This rectangle one only has a piece of nian gao.  This will stay crispy as there is no water from the sweet potato to soften the fried spring roll.

Direction:

1.  Cut the sweet potatoes into smaller pieces and steam for 25 minutes or until soften when poke with a fork.  Take it out and smash it with a fork.  Set aside to let cool.

2.  Take out the nian gao and cut it into log shape pieces.

3.  Prepare a bowl of water.  Take a piece of spring roll wrapper and place some smashed sweet potato on top like the above picture.

4.  Place a piece of nian gao in the middle.  Brush the sides of the spring roll wrapper with water.  Fold and roll it into a roll.  Finish the rest.

5.  Deep-fry in batches in medium heat oil until golden brown.  Dish out and drain on paper towel to absorb the excess oil.  Serve!

Note:  You can keep the leftover in a container in the refrigerator.  Just toast it again in a toaster oven before serving (about 5-6 minutes).

BoBoChaCha 2

I made BoBoChaCha before but this time with the added tapioca strips.  I steamed the cubed yam for 25 minutes and set aside.  Then, I cooked the cubed sweet potatoes in a large pot with water.  Boil in low heat for 20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft.  Then, I add in the Chinese bar shape brown sugar or you can use Gula Melaka or gula Jawa.  Dissolve those sugar to taste.  Lastly, stir in the cooked sago pearls/tapioca pearls, cooked tapioca strips, cooked yam and stir to mix well.  Add in some coconut cream to increase the overall fragrant of this dish.

In the next page, I will show you what the dried tapioca trips package looks like.  You should be able to buy this in any Asian or Vietnamese market store.  Instruction to cook this will be provided as well.

I found this Tapioca Strips at my Asian market and knew that it would be perfect for my Bobochacha.  It goes well with any of the Vietnamese dessert too.  In fact, it is a Vietnamese product but goes well with our Malaysian sweet dessert soup too.  Boil this in low heat for 15 minutes and then turn off the heat and let it sit in there, covered for 10 minutes.  Test one strip to see if it's completely soft.  Then, rinse with cold water to serve.

Pumpkin Sweet Potatoes Sago Dessert

What to do with extra pumpkin on hand?  Make this!  This idea was suggested by one of my readers and I couldn't agree with her more, so easy to make and so tasty especially with lots of tapioca pearls or sago pearls.

You have to use fresh pumpkin for this.  Just cut it into small pieces along with the sweet potatoes.  You can either steam to soften and cook it or just boil them together in a pot for 20-30 minutes.  Add Chinese brown sugar pieces to taste, add in cooked tapioca pearls and lastly coconut cream.  Stir to mix well.

Good either serve warm or cold.  My hubby loved it cold with crushed ice.  Keep any leftover in the refrigerator and enjoy it cold straight out of the fridge.  This method of cooking is just like BoBoChaCha actually.  So, of course you can add in yam or tapioca strips or plantain or red bean or whatever you think is suitable.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

The easiest way to serve sweet potatoes for holiday dinner, no steaming, no mashing required, just bake it in the oven. Minimal washing too as you just need to throw away the aluminum foil. That's why this can be prepared last minute. I am waiting for it to go on sales again on Christmas week so that I can make this again.

Ingredients:

Sweet potato, cut into fries shape like above
Olive oil or extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Black pepper
Paprika
JoJo potato seasoning

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375'F. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil. Put the cut sweet potato fries on top.

2. Pour some olive oil on the sweet potato fries, season with salt, pepper, paprika and JoJo potato seasoning. Toast to coat well.

3. Bake for 15 minutes, flip it and bake for additional 10 minutes. Turn the oven to broil and broil for 2-3 minutes before serving (keep an eye on it).

Sweet Potatoes Porridge

Sweet potato is super cheap this time of the year. I saw it as low as 25 cent/lb at WalMart. I regretted I didn't buy some at this price to keep. Edda was not feeling well and I decided to cook her some porridge. Instead of the usual fish porridge, I tried the chicken and sweet potatoes porridge. I made the porridge quite watery and cut the sweet potato into tiny cubes for easy swallowing. But guess what? She didn't like it at all. I think she is not a fan of sweet potato cooked in this way. Anyway, you can substitute the sweet potato with pumpkin.





Ingredients:

Sweet potato, sliced skinless chicken breast, rice, water and salt to season.

Method:

In a pot, add in a handful of rice. Rinse with water. Add enough water to cook porridge and place it on the stove. Turn the heat to high and wait for it to boil. When boiling, turn the heat to low and give it a stir. Add in chicken breast and sweet potato cubes, give it a stir. Cover it and let it simmer until cooked, keep stirring once in a while. Lastly, season to taste with a little salt.

Sweet Potato Cake

I bought some sweet potatoes and wanted to experiment with making a sweet potato cake. I used the pumpkin cake recipe as a base and made this cake. Since sweet potatoes is sweeter in nature, so I cut down the sugar a little so that it won't be too sweet. I also provided my short-cut version of making the mashed sweet potatoes. Of course if you don't own a microwave, you can always peel and then steam the potatoes for 20-30 minutes (or until soft) and then mash it.





Ingredients:

(A)
3 eggs
1 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil)
About 1 lb. of sweet potatoes (about 2 small ones) ( or 1 1/2 cups packed mashed sweet potatoes)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
(B)
1 3/4 cups white sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp. baking soda

Method:

1. Wrap the sweet potato individually with plastic wrap and microwave for 7 minutes. Turn it over to the other side and microwave an additional 8 minutes. Take it out, let it cool a little, unwrapped the plastic wrap and carefully peel off the skin of the sweet potatoes. Then, mashed the sweet potatoes well with a masher. Set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350'F. Spray a 10-inch bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray with flour for baking.

3. In a big mixing bowl, whisk together (A).

4. Then, add in (B) and stir together with a spatula until smooth and well blended.

5. Pour into the bundt pan and bake for one hour. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before inverted to cool completely on a wire rack. Best enjoy the next day.

I am also submitting my recipe to the Original Recipe event hosted by Lore at Culinarty. Check out others' Winter Holidays recipes around the week of Dec. 15th.

Sweet Potato Pie

I finally made my sweet potato pie today, ahem... 4 days after Thanksgiving. LOL! Why? Because I already bought the sweet potato and every time I opened the refrigerator, it has been screaming at me to bake it. Oh well, it is the season for pie so let's have some pies before I have no mood to bake pie anymore. Therefore, I will have another one of my favorite pies coming up. But have to wait until we finish this pie first, got to do it one at a time.

I made everything from scratch, even the crust. Home made crust is so much better than the frozen pie crust, so even as lazy as I am, I just have to make my own pie crust. I guess a bonus now is I own a food processor, so it's way easier to make the crust, just let the food processor does its' job. While the pie dough resting in the refrigerator, I will prepare the sweet potato pie filling.

This is my favorite recipe that I have been using for years. It has never failed me and I totally loved it. I got the recipe from Allrecipe.com so click here for the recipe. Oh, I added 1 Tbsp. of cornstarch into the filling to thicken it more. Serve with whipped cream on the side. Little Edda totally loved it and always requested two pieces for herself!