Wu tao gou, or taro cakes, are a classic for Chinese New Year and also at dim sum! Gou (or "cake" in Chinese) sounds like the word for "higher", hence why many people eat taro cakes, sweet rice cakes (lin gou), or radish cake (lo bak gou) for the new year to wish for bigger and better things and set high expectations! Taro is a starchy root vegetable- once cooked, it has a similar texture to a potato. A lot of people might be familiar with taro bubble tea, the bright purple drink, but taro can be used in both sweet and savory dishes. Here, it's cooked with Chinese sausage, dried shrimp, and spices, steamed in the Instant Pot to make it easy, and then pan-fried to make the perfect breakfast or (anytime) snack! Recipe: Makes about 12 servings, but this will depend on the size of your containers (I used 2 containers around 6" width x 8" length x 2" depth)
Rinse your dried shrimp and then soak them in water. While they are soaking, peel the skin off of your lap cheong, dice it and set aside. Measure out your rice flour and glutinous rice flour in a separate bowl and set aside. Take out your dried shrimp (reserve the water) and dice them up. Peel your taro root (use gloves as taro skin may cause your hands to be itchy.) Take half of your taro and dice into small cubes. Use a mandolin to shred the other half of the taro. This will help to create a variety in textures. Heat a large nonstick pan/wok and add 1 tbsp vegetable oil. Saute the lap cheong until some of the oils and flavors are released and the sausage browns a little. Then add the dried shrimp and saute. Take out the lap cheong and dried shrimp mixture and set aside. Add some more oil to your pan (this will help with any sticking), and add half of your diced taro. Saute for 5 minutes and then add the rest of the diced taro and the shredded taro. Add 2 cups of hot water. Cover and cook for 5-10 minutes until softened, stirring and adding more oil if needed to make sure it does not stick to the bottom. While this is cooking, mix your salt, sugar, pepper, 5 spice, and chicken bouillon powder into your flour mixture. Add your reserved water from soaking the dried shrimp and extra hot water to add up to 2 cups into your flour mixture. Mix well. Oil your glass containers. Add back in your lap cheong and dried shrimp to the pan, reserve some for garnish if desired. Stir to combine. Turn off the heat and then slowly add in the flour mixture, making sure that it is well-combined into the taro mixture. Once combined, transfer the mixture to your oiled containers. You can smooth out the top with a wet spoon if needed. Garnish with reserved lap cheong, dried shrimp, and scallions and press these into the taro to make sure they will not fall out when you cut into the taro cake later. Transfer the containers into your Instant Pot and use the manual setting to steam them. I used a small metal rack to elevate the bottom container and then stacked the second container on top. For my size of containers, I steamed them for 32 minutes and natural release for 20 minutes (if your container is more shallow, you can steam for less time as it will take less time to cook).
Take the taro cakes out of the Instant Pot carefully and allow them to cool fully. Once cooled, it can be transferred to the fridge or sliced up and frozen in batches. To serve, slice the taro cake. Pan fry the sliced taro cake until golden brown and crispy. Serve immediately as is or with hoisin, oyster, or chili sauce.
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