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.
Prosperity yam basket is one of the popular Chinese new year dishes. It’s my personal favorite too. I love anything yam, taro, sweet potatoes, potatoes, well..you get the idea! Crispy on the outside and soft meaty taro inside filled with savory meat and/or vegetable stir-fry is really a crowd-pleaser. My kids were fighting for the yam basket, not the filling LOL! Though the filling was good too, but the yam basket is the star of the show here.
The recipe rundown
Taste: I love the natural sweet aroma of yam/taro along with the five-spice powder
Texture: Crispy on the outside and soft inside yam basket pairs with a savory filling and crispy crunchy fried rice stick noodles. I guess you don’t need me to elaborate more 🙂 Lots of textures to please you here!
Level: Intermediate-difficult
Pros: They are not the easiest recipe to make, but they taste so darn good!
Cons: You need lots of oil to fry the yam ring basket
Ingredients for Yam Basket
1. Taro/yam
This can be found at Asian grocery store. The skin is almost like a tree-bark with hint of purple flesh
This is Taro / Asian Yam
2. Wheat starch
Wheat starch can be difficult to find, but is usually available at Asian grocery stores. They are not the same as regular wheat flour
3. Five-spice powder
Chinese five-spice powder is widely available at Asian grocery stores and I feel like it’s a must in yam basket recipe. The aroma really shines through
4. Shortening
I used no-trans fat shortening
5. Salt
6. Sugar
7. Hot boiling water
It’s important to use hot boiling water to cook the wheat starch before mixing it into the yam to make the dough
How to make the prosperity yam ring basket
1. 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
3. Get 300 grams and mash the taro while it’s hot with salt, sugar, and five-spice powder
4. 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.
5. Knead into a dough. The dough will still be somewhat sticky and very soft at this point
6. Continue to knead until the dough is smooth and shiny. Cover with plastic wrap and pop it into the refrigerator and let it rest for about 1 hour or overnight if you preparing ahead
7. 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
8. Place these yam rings on a baking tray and put them in the refrigerator to chill them for at least 30 minutes so they won’t fall apart during the frying.
9. 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 (yes, it needs lots of oil I know). If you put a skewer in there, you will see bubbles around it. The oil is ready
10. 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
11. 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.
12. Let it fry until golden brown and lift it up with the spatula and put on an absorbent paper towel
11. Let’s fry the rice noodle stick now (the photos below was taken at the different time when I made this). When you dip a chopstick or skewer, if the oil bubbles around it, the oil is ready
12. Carefully put in the dried rice noodles and they will puff up almost immediately
13. Fry until they are crispy and place on an absorbent paper towel
The filling
The filling is really flexible here. Usually people like to fill it with stir fry kung pao chicken or cashew chicken stir-fry. You can also fill it with stir-fry cap chye or really, whatever you want to fill it up with.
Important tips
1. Use hot boiling water to precook the wheat starch. This helps to bind the dough together
2. Remember to chill the dough before shaping and before frying
3. The oil needs to be hot to fry the yam basket and the rice noodles
If you like prosperity yam basket, you will like this woo kok (fried taro puff)
Woo Kok (Fried Taro Puff)
Did you make this prosperity yam ring basket recipe?
I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag to show me what you’ve made 🙂 Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!
The recipe for the yam basket was first published in 2021 and has been improved with a recipe adapted from Spice N’ Pans with some modifications. The yam dough is so much easier to work with and won’t fall apart during frying.
Prosperity Yam Ring Basket
Ingredients
- 300 gr mashed taro
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp five-spice powder
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
- 60 gr wheat starch
- 90 ml hot boiling water
- 30 gr shortening
- cooking oil for deep frying
Filling:
- 100 gr pork tenderloin cut into thin slices
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 150 gr large shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil
- 1 small carrot thinly sliced
- 1 stalk celery cut into bite-size pieces
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 small purple onion cut into small wedges
- 1 Tbsp shaoxing wine
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 Tbsp water
Seasoning:
- 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- ½ tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
- 1 tsp sesame oil
Other filling ideas (choose any one of this or use your own favorite recipe):
- 1 recipe Kung Pao Chicken (Gong Bao Ji Ding)
- 1 recipe Cap Chay (Cap Cay)
- 1 recipe Tumis Ayam Kacang Mede (Cashew Chicken Stir-Fry)
Serve with:
- Thin rice noodles
Instructions
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
5 comments
Hi Marv, I would like to you if the yam puff recipe can be used to make yam basket? According to your recipes yam puff uses wheat starch and it turns up well with the “spider webs” but yam basket uses all- purpose flour. Will the result still be the same? I am planning to make it tomorrow night.
Hi Joslynn, this yam basket recipe is really “old”, meaning I made it really long time ago and I had not revisited to see if need improvement or not, I would recommend using the woo kok recipe instead, I know that one is good because I just made it few days ago 🙂
Ok thanks, I will try and let you know the result.
Hii, I made 5 yam basket and all of it was amazing with the spider webs texture.
Hi Joslynn, yay!! Happy to hear that! Did you use the woo kok recipe for the yam basket ?