Orh Nee (yam paste)

My 2nd attempt at making Orh Nee. It's actually much simplier than it looks and quite customisable to individual tastes and preferences. The key is in the yam - you need to find a yam that isn't too powdery, otherwise it'll end up quite 'dry', which will require a lot of moisture like oil or water to lubricate. Too much water and it becomes watery; too much oil and it becomes oily. In the end, I used Malaysian or Thai yams, which seem the best. They steam very quickly (only took 10 minutes for 2 large yams!) and the finish was velvety smooth even before adding oil and water. (Unfortunately I accidently deleted the photo! )

Ingredients

2 Thai/Malaysian yams (approx 600g each before removing the stem and external skin)

3 cups of water

10 - 11 tsps of cooking oil (use a neutral flavoured vegetable oil, or lard if you are lucky enough to have it and don't mind the calories! There is no other substitute for flavour)

1 cup of ginko nuts (if using. You can use half a can of ginko nuts or about 150g of fresh ones)

Optional: Sweet potato

3 cups water (this really depends on how much yam there is)

9 to 10 tbsp sugar (again, depends on how much yam and how sweet you want the dessert to be. I made it only slightly sweet)

Method

1) Cut the yam up into big cubes (approx 4cm by 4cm) and steam for 10 to 15 minutes until a fork easily passes through.

2) In a food processor, process the steamed yam and drizzle the 1 to 2 tsp into the funnel everything everything is well combined, smooth and glossy. (I used about 1 tsp for every 10 cubes, as I was using a very small food processor) The consistency should be rather pastey and thick.

3) In a big non-stick pot, combine the sugar and water, and bring to a boil until all the sugar has dissolved. I took the extra step of reducing the water slightly into a slightly syrupy mixture, but you don't really need to.

4) Add the processed yam a bit at a time into the pot, making sure to stir continously to prevent burning. The non-stick is important here. Keep stirring until everything is well combined and smooth. If using ginko nuts and cubed steamed sweet potato, this is the time to combine it in. Only add these 2 elements after all the sugar and oil have been well incorporated into the paste, and don't over stir, otherwise you will end up breaking the ginko nuts and cubed sweet potato.

5) Serve warm.