Yam Rice (Taro Rice) 芋头饭

by wiffy on February 21, 2010

in Asian,Chinese,Easy One-Dish Meals,Recipes,Rice,Singapore,Stir Frying

Yam Rice 芋头饭
“Yammy-licious” Yam Rice

I had lots of leftover yam from making yu sheng so I thought of cooking yam rice with the leftovers. My first attempt turned out really well surprisingly, not only did the yam rice looked appetizing, it also tasted … “yammy” (can’t resist the pun). It was so good that I didn’t mind reheating the remaining yam rice the next day as it was too good to waste. Yam rice is really filling and you can eat it on its own as a one-dish meal, or pair it with Chinese soups such as bak kut teh and salted vegetables soup.


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Yam Rice 芋头饭

Updated (24 Feb 2010): In the US & Canada, there is no distinction between yam and sweet potato. Hence to avoid confusion, the yam that is used in this recipe is also the vegetable known as taro. In Singapore (and in this recipe), yam refers to the vegetable with black skin and some porous roots sticking out from the skin, and the flesh is white/purple (see photo below). Sweet potato, on the other hand, refers to the one with orange flesh. Thanks to HoppingHammy who pointed it out to me :)

If you like different flavours of yam rice, also check out Rasa Malaysia’s yam rice which has minced meat & shiitake mushrooms. :up:

Yam Cubes
Ingredient: Yam Cubes

Ingredients
(serves 3-4)

- (200g) 1 cup uncooked long grain rice, washed and water rinsed
- water to cook rice
- 200g yam (taro), skin removed and cubed (wear disposable plastic gloves when handling yam)
- 2 tbsp dried shrimps (hei bi), soaked in water for 15 minutes, drain the water and chop finely
- 100g char siew or roasted meat, cut to small pieces
- dash of ground white pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil

Seasonings
- 3/4 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil

Directions
1. Heat a wok. Stir fry yam cubes on high heat for roughly 5 minutes till just about cooked. Set aside.
2. Using the remaining oil in the wok, stir fry dried shrimps on medium low heat till fragrant (about 2-3 minutes).
3. Return the cooked yam to the wok. Add rice, roasted meat and ground white pepper. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes till all the ingredients are well mixed.
4. Wait for the rice mixture to cool, then transfer to a rice cooker. Add water to cook rice (adjust according to your preference/rice cooker; I used roughly 1 3/4 cup water), followed by seasonings. Stir to make sure that the seasonings are well mixed.
5. Cook rice in rice cooker. If not using rice cooker, boil the rice mixture for roughly 20 minutes, or till the water has evaporated and the rice is moist and puffy.

Roasted Meat
Ingredient: Assorted leftover roasted meat (cut to smaller pieces)

Dried Shrimps (Hei bi)
Ingredient: Dried shrimps (hei bi), finely chopped

Preparation for yam rice
Stir frying all the ingredients (Step 3)

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{ 48 comments… read them below or add one }

1 celine February 21, 2010 at 8:30 pm

YAY!! One pot meal, I like …… Thanks Wiffy!! You can never imagine how much you are helping me with dinner preparations, and how much my family loves you (and other online sifus). Without you guys, they will be having instant noodles at least 3x a week.

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2 wiffy February 24, 2010 at 10:06 am

haha, I’m still having instant noodles quite frequently in a week :p Thanks for your encouraging words as always, hope your family likes the yam rice :)

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3 MaryMoh February 21, 2010 at 9:05 pm

It’s a long time I have not eaten yam rice. Oooh….love the look of it. Now you make me crave for it. Love all the ingredients. Bet it’s very, very delicious.

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4 Little Inbox February 21, 2010 at 9:16 pm

Good idea to utilize the leftover. You can consider to add some chopped garlic too.

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5 wiffy February 24, 2010 at 10:07 am

great idea! chopped spring onions, fried shallots are great for topping up too. I was too hungry/lazy to garnish it that day :D

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6 pigpigscorner February 21, 2010 at 10:02 pm

yam rice and hebi is so good…yammy!

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7 TasteHongKong February 21, 2010 at 10:12 pm

As far as i know, the yam (we call it taro) and the rice can easily get lumpy when cooked together in a rice cooker, but yours look just right.

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8 wiffy February 24, 2010 at 10:09 am

I think the rice gets lumpy because of too much water added. Also the cooked yam/taro will get mashy if you press hard, hence I try to be gentle when I scoop it out the rice :)

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9 dolphing February 21, 2010 at 10:20 pm

It is the best serve with Preserved Vegetable Soup 鹹菜湯. May I know if you the later recipe to be shared ? ^^

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10 wiffy February 22, 2010 at 8:32 am

Hi Hong, Happy New Year! I have the recipes for (1) Salted Vegetables and Duck Soup 咸菜鸭肉汤 and (2) Salted Vegetables & Tofu Soup 咸菜豆腐汤 hope they are what you’re looking for :)

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11 Reeni February 21, 2010 at 10:55 pm

This sounds excellent! I like that you added meat to it too. A great way to reinvent leftovers!

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12 wiffy February 24, 2010 at 10:10 am

Yes, I was really happy that this dish took care of my leftover yam and roasted meat!

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13 Selba February 21, 2010 at 11:01 pm

I’m not so sure whether I’ve eaten it before but it looks so yummy :)

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14 Bob February 21, 2010 at 11:59 pm

That looks perfect. Seriously.

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15 Ching February 22, 2010 at 1:00 am

Yummy I loved this, should go buy some yam to make this.

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16 Pepy @ Indonesia Eats February 22, 2010 at 2:13 am

That is what we called talas in my own language or taro here.

Never thought to mix that with rice. Thanks Wiffy!

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17 wiffy February 24, 2010 at 10:11 am

Now I learnt a new word for yam :)

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18 HoppingHammy February 22, 2010 at 5:43 am

Please forgive me for being so confused. I thought “yam” was sweet potato? lol! The yam cubes you have pictured look nothing like sweet potato though, (they look very interesting though!) and the fact you mention wearing gloves makes me wonder even further? :!: So, what is that?

The finished dish looks very earthy and appealing! :up:

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19 wiffy February 24, 2010 at 10:17 am

sorry for causing the confusion. after your comment, I did a search and found that people in the US referred to yam as sweet potato quite interchangeably. the “yam” labelled in singapore is the one with black skin and white/purple flesh. sweet potato here is the one with orange skin :) I will edit my post for more clarity, millions thanks for pointing it out to me!

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20 The Little Teochew February 22, 2010 at 9:54 am

Hi-five, girlfriend! Hurray to yammy yam rice! LOL. :)

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21 aruna February 22, 2010 at 11:33 am

Nice n gorgeous!

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22 tigerfish February 22, 2010 at 12:19 pm

Me Yearning Yammy…hee hee…..
Been some time since I cooked yam rice….

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23 Lia Chen February 22, 2010 at 1:10 pm

Wiffy, I learn a lot from your blog. I don’t know about yam rice before but with hei-bi in it … I can only imagine ‘delicious’ in my head :up:

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24 wiffy February 24, 2010 at 10:12 am

Yam rice is a popular home cooked food in Singapore. Yes rice with hei bi is simply delicious :p

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25 Big Boys Oven February 22, 2010 at 1:30 pm

I just love anything with yam! amazingly delicious! :)

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26 Christine@Christine's Recipes February 22, 2010 at 2:04 pm

Yam rice, yum yum…..!
Love yam very much. This is a very clever way to clean up the leftovers.

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27 beachlover February 22, 2010 at 2:21 pm

yam rice!! I wanna a bowl too!! look yammydelicious!! talking about yam,I also bought 2 head of taro yesterday.Now you inspire me to make yam rice!! woohoo!!

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28 wiffy February 24, 2010 at 10:12 am

can’t wait to see your version of yam rice :)

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29 peachkins February 22, 2010 at 8:27 pm

this dish looks so tasty!

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30 daphne February 22, 2010 at 11:04 pm

seeing this makes me hungry! love the addition of shrimps for sure. I always forget to put shrimps in mine.

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31 mycookinghut February 23, 2010 at 3:40 am

One pot.. love this!!

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32 lisaiscooking February 23, 2010 at 4:28 am

This is a great one-dish meal. Sounds filling and delicious!

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33 Juliana February 23, 2010 at 7:11 am

Taro rice? I love it! I am a big fan of taro…anything that contain taro I’d go for it :-) Great rice dish!

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34 wiffy February 24, 2010 at 10:13 am

yes another name is taro. thanks! :)

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35 jo February 23, 2010 at 9:15 pm

Yum and double yum! This has got to be the 2nd posting that I’ve seen on yam rice and it is oh so tempting me to make some soon. Great clicks.

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36 wiffy February 24, 2010 at 10:13 am

Yes I’ve been seeing more yam rice postings too. Is this the season?? Hope to see your version too :)

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37 diva February 24, 2010 at 5:37 am

yam rice is so yum! Especially when eaten with duck and lots of duck gravy :)

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38 wiffy February 24, 2010 at 10:14 am

yes I like yam rice with gravy and even curry. :up:

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39 Rasa Malaysia February 26, 2010 at 8:29 am

What a coincidence, I just made this yesterday, too, and serve it with claypot yong tow foo (will post on RM soon). Hehe. I love yam, especially when they are in this rice, so loose and yummy. :)

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40 wiffy March 2, 2010 at 2:24 pm

wow yam rice + claypot ytf sounds heavenly. can’t wait to check it out :-)

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41 juhuacha March 4, 2010 at 2:12 pm

I prefer soft and mushy yam that will merge with the rice. Do u know how to select yam? Is it difficult to handle yam like removing of the skin?

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42 wiffy March 4, 2010 at 3:03 pm

hi juhuacha! :-) I don’t have many tips on selecting yam, I just make sure they feel firm (not soft). It’s not difficult to remove the skin (just have to slice it off with a knife), however you need to wear gloves (or drape plastic bag over your hands) because the skin is known to cause discomfort/itch.

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43 Wong March 17, 2010 at 12:49 pm

May i know why you need to wait till the rice mixture is cool then cook with the rice cooker?

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44 wiffy March 17, 2010 at 4:55 pm

hi wong, that’s because many rice cookers operate by heat sensor. If the rice mixture you put inside is hot, it thinks that the rice is cooked only after, say 5 minutes. You can ignore this if yours is the more advanced model :)

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45 Wong March 20, 2010 at 1:55 pm

oh..got it! Thanks and i am going to try this for dinner tonight.

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46 MaeJJ - Sirimon March 29, 2010 at 11:04 pm

Hi wiffy,

It’s me sirimon, hope you remember me. I’m cooked yam rice as promised you. it’s was nice and we all enjoy it so much. :up: :up:

Thanks for your recipe

my blog here you can see my yam rice :D http://maejj2.blogspot.com/2010/02/yam-rice.html

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47 wiffy March 30, 2010 at 10:55 pm

hi Sirimon, thank you so much for posting the yam rice and the mango sago. I was really touched and happy to see it. Glad you like the recipes. I like your photos. :halo:

I wanted to comment on your blog but the comment feature was turned off? wanted to ask you if you have any authentic Thai recipes to share, hehe

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48 yani June 28, 2012 at 1:56 am

love this one pot meal

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