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Soft and slightly bouncy steamed rice cake studded with black-eyed peas/beans and savory and umami filling and topped with scallions, chili, and fried shallots chips are the perfect healthy breakfast or snack.
Beans are such versatile food ingredients. They can be used for sweet and savory dishes. In the past, I have made savory steamed cakes such as this kue talam ebi, orh kueh/yam cake (savory steamed taro cake). These are popular savory kue/kueh that are in Asia. Then lately, my mom gave me this steamed black eyed bean cake recipe to try and of course, I have to give it a try. The family enjoyed it and I thought I would share it here in case anyone is interested in trying it out.
Chinese Savory Black-eyed Beans Cake (五香眉豆糕 )
Ingredients
For the cake batter:
- 300 g rice flour
- 50 g tapioca flour
- 1 cube chicken bouillon grate into powder or use 1 tsp chicken powder
- 2 tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
- 2 tsp salt
- 1200 g liquid (water + liquid from soaking mushrooms and dried shrimp)
For the filling:
- 200 g black-eyed peas
- 25 g dried shiitake mushrooms
- 30 g garlic minced
- 50 g dried shrimp
- 1 Chinese sausage diced into little pieces
- ½ tsp five-spice powder
- 150 g ground pork
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp oil
Topping:
- 3 stalks green onion or more as needed, finely minced
- Crispy fried shallots / bawang goreng as needed
- 2 red chili seeded and chopped
Instructions
- You can use one 9 x 9 x 2 1/4 inches square pan or if you don't have a steamer that can accommodate that size, you can split the batter into two pans. You can use two 7 inches round pans or two 8-inches round pans (the cake will be shorter a bit)
- You can also half the recipe and use one 7 or 8-inch round or square pan, or 9 x 5 loaf pan
- Brush the pan with oil all over. I didn't line the bottom with parchment paper and didn't have trouble unmolding the cake when it had cooled down completely. You can line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper if you just want to play it safe
Soak the beans if you plan to boil them on the stove:
- If you plan to cook the beans on the stove, you need to soak them for at least 4 hours or overnight. The next day, discard the soaking water and put them in a large pot. Fill it up with water, about 2 inches above the beans and bring it to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer for 45 minutes or until the beans are soft but not mushy. You want the beans to still hold its shape but you can mash it with your fingers
If you plan to cook the beans with a pressure cooker:
- You can skip the soaking part. I use Instant Pot pressure cooker. Put the beans in the inner pot of the pressure cooker. Fill it up with water, about 2 inches above the beans. Close the lid and turn the steam release valve to sealing. Press "pressure cooker" and make sure it's on "high pressure". Set the timer to 30 minutes and then natural release. Discard the cooking water after that
Set up your steamer:
- You can use a large wok, put a metal trivet in and fill it up with water. You can also use a large pot that can fit the pan you use. Put a metal trivet into the pot and fill it up with water. The water shouldn't come up too high that it touches your pan during steaming
Prepare the cake batter:
- Soak the mushroom in warm water until soft and then dice into little pieces.
- Soak the dried shrimp in warm water until they are soft and then finely mince them. Save the liquid from soaking the mushrooms and dried shrimp
- Combine ground pork with oyster sauce, soy sauce, and cornstarch. Stir to combine and set aside
- In a mixing bowl, combine rice flour, tapioca flour, chicken powder, sugar, salt, pepper, liquid from soaking the mushrooms and dried shrimp, then add water to make up to a total of 1200 grams of liquid for full recipe (half the amount if you are making only 1/2 the recipe)
- Preheat a large wok (you need a large wok or skillet if you do a full recipe, otherwise, the cake batter won't fit) with cooking oil. Add the garlic and dried shrimp and saute until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
- Add the ground pork, breaking it up with your spatula and cook until they turn opaque, about 2 minutes. Add the mushroom pieces and Chinese sausage pieces. Cook for another minute
- Add the cooked beans and give it a quick stir. Give you rice flour batter a mix as the flour may have settled at the bottom. Lower the heat to the lowest and then pour the rice flour batter into the wok. Keep stirring over low heat.
- You will start feeling some lumps forming as the rice flour mixture thickens. Just keep stirring and keep the heat low.
- Don't cook until the mixture is too stiff. The consistency should be thick, creamy, and spreadable. If you cook until the mixture is too thick and dry, the cake will come out dense and hard after steaming
- Bring the water in the steamer to a boil. Transfer the thick and creamy cake batter into a prepared pan. Use a rubber spatula to spread the batter evenly throughout
- I use two pans
Steaming:
- Place the pan into the steamer and steam for 50-55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out pretty clean and no longer wet. If it's still wet, steam another 5 minutes and check again
- The surface of the cake may seem a bit wet at first and look undone, but this dries up as the cake cools down
Cooling:
- Let the cake cool down completely, about 3-4 hours before cutting
Serving:
- I prepare my toppings and then keep the onion and chili in the containers, stored in a fridge. I like to cut the cake into serving sizes and then put the toppings on top only when I'm ready to serve them. That way, I can store the cake in the fridge, reheat it to soften the cake and put the toppings on.
- Some folks like to unmold the cake and then scatter the topping evenly on top and then cut. I feel like it's a bit messier to cut (learning from past experiences), but it's really up to you how you want to do it. There's no right or wrong. Whatever works for you
How to store:
- Leftovers need to be stored in the fridge. This is why I like to keep the cake and toppings separate so when I reheat them, the fried shallots won't get soggy and the green onion won't get overcooked
*Nutrition facts are just estimates and calculated using online tools*
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Ingredients and substitutions for the cake batter
1. Rice flour
I use this rice four from Thailand. Make sure whatever brand you use, the rice flour is pure and not mixed with another type of flour or starch. There is no substitute for rice flour in this recipe
2. Tapioca flour
Tapioca flour is added for that “bounciness”. Don’t substitute with other starch
3. Chicken bouillon or chicken powder
This is added for extra flavor to the cake batter
4. Salt
I use fine sea salt.
5. Sugar
This is a savory cake, but sugar is still needed to help round up that flavor, otherwise, I feel like something is missing
Variations on the filling
You can follow the recipe exactly for the filling or if you don’t have all the ingredients and don’t feel like making an extra trip just for them, you can omit Chinese sausage and the ground pork. I think the minimum you still want to have is at least the mushrooms and dried shrimp. If you don’t have dried shrimp, I suggest at least include some ground pork. I have also made this before using already-cooked bacon bits.
Did you make this Chinese savory black-eyed bean cake recipe?
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