• Grease 8 x 8 inch pan some oil on all four sides. Place the parchment paper on the bottom if you want to, but not necessary. Prepare your steamer by bringing water to a boil.
• Place the rice flour,water, five-spice powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until it's blended. Set aside. Preheat 1 Tbsp of oil in a large skillet or wok. Add shallots and garlic and saute until fragrant and soft, about 4 minutes. Add the dried shrimp and saute for another 1 minute. Add the taro pieces and cook for another 2 minutes. Give the rice flour mixture a stir and then pour it into the skillet/wok. Reduce the heat to medium or low. It will start to thicken. Keep stirring until until it coats the spatula, medium-thick consistency. If it's too thick, your kueh will be tougher after steaming. Remove from the heat.  
• Pour the batter into the pan or glass dish. Use the back of the spoon or spatula to press it down so the cake will be pretty compact and won't have "holes" and smooth the surface as much as you can. Place this into the steamer and steam for 1 hour or until the taro cake is cooked through and set. It may still appear a bit soft at the end of cooking time, but that's ok, let it cool off completely before removing it. It will "firm up " further

While waiting for the taro cake to steam, prepare the topping:

• In a medium size skillet, preheat some oil. Saute the dried shrimp until really fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and set aside

When ready to serve:

• You may remove the cake from the dish if you want to. You can leave the cake in the dish and sprinkle the dried shrimps on top of the cake. Sprinkle the green onion, chili and fried shallots crisp on top and serve by cutting with a wet knife into desired sizes. You can also cut the taro cake to the desired size and then only put topping on the ones you will eat on the same day and the untopped taro cake can be refrigerated up to 3 days and then you can reheat and place toppings on top