Mashed yam/taro is shaped into a ring and then fried and filled with stir-fry chicken and vegetables or any filling of your choice and served on a bed of crispy rice stick noodles. This is a popular Chinese New Year food you can easily make at home
Prepare the yam dough: (can be done the day before)
Peel taro and cut into smaller chunks or thin slices and steam on high heat until you can easily poke them with a fork, about 15 minutes. I pressure cook on high for 3 minutes. Get 300 grams of taro. Mash the taro while it's hot with salt, sugar, and five-spice powder
Mix wheat starch with hot boiling water (make sure it's really boiling hot). This will precook the starch. Stir this into the taro mixture followed by shortening. Knead into a dough. The dough will still be somewhat a bit sticky at this point. Continue to knead until the dough is smooth
Chill the dough:
Cover with plastic wrap and pop it into the refrigerator and let it rest for about 1 hour or overnight if you preparing ahead
Shape the dough:
The dough should be soft and pliable now. Give it a few kneads. Gently shape the dough by making a hole in the middle of the dough and then gently shape into a ring
Gently shape the dough into a long log and then shape into a ring, not too thick not too thin, about 3/4 inch (almst 2 cm) in thickness and about 5 inches in diameter.
Chill the yam rings:
Place these yam rings on a baking tray and put in the refrigerator to chill them for at least 30 minutes so they won't fall apart during the frying
Preheat about 3 inches of oil in a heavy-bottom wok , skillet, or a pot. You want the yam basket to be able to fully submerged into the oil. If you put a skewer in there, you will see bubbles around it. The oil is ready
Fry the yam rings:
Put the yam ring on top of a large skimmer or something similar. You can also use one of those disposable round aluminum pie plate, cut a hole in the middle to let oil through and put the yam ring on top. This helps prevent the bottom of the yam basket getting burned
Gently lower the yam ring into the oil. Ideally, you want the whole yam ring to be submerged in the oil, it makes your life easier actually (but I feel like that’s a lot of oil too). If the yam isn’t fully submerged into the oil, use a ladle to spoon the hot oil over the top of the basket all over so they brown evenly on the bottom and top of the basket.
Fry the noodles:
When you dip a chopstick or skewer into the oil, if the oil bubbles around it, the oil is ready. Carefully put in the dried rice noodles and they will puff up almost immediately. Fry until they are crispy and place on an absorbent paper towel
Prepare the filling:
Marinate the pork slices with cornstarch and soy sauce and set aside for about 15 minutes
Preheat a large skillet. Add oil. Saute garlic and onion for about 1 minute. Add the pork and saute until they just turn color. Add the shrimp and saute until they barely turn pink. Add the celery and carrots and saute for another minute. Deglaze the skillet by pouring 1 Tbsp of shaoxing wine. Scrape the bottom of the skillet. Add the seasonings and chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Have a taste and adjust the seasoning to your preference. Mix cornstarch with water to make a slurry. Pour this over and keep stirring until the sauce has thickened
Put everything together:
Put the crispy fried noodles on the serving platter. Place the yam ring basket on top. Fill the basket with the filling of your choice and serve immediately