Or Nee 芋泥

This is one of my favourite desserts---Or Nee! Will definitely order this if it is on the menu. Whenever I attend wedding dinners, I will hope that the last dish for the day is Or Nee (keeping my fingers crossed it will  be good!). And for my own wedding I have this for the last dish hehe! 

I  have made this specially for a farewell gathering for a friend who is going back to Singapore with her 2 girls. I hope they like it.  It is really fate which bring us SIngaporeans together in a foreign country. I have never seen her though we attended the same JC and same course in uni. We joked that we were too low profile (which is very true) ;p  Anyway I will still meet her again soon, this time round in Singapore when I go back during CNY.

Before I made this dish, I have always heard many people saying it is difficult to make cos you have to cook it on a wok and keep stirring so that I will not get burnt. And to make it taste good, it is better to cook it with lard. Since I am a lazy cook, I have search the net for a easy recipe. And to my surprise, I found one which does not need to cook in the wok and taste wonderfully good too!  The 2 secrets to a good or nee i think is  the shallots oil (to replace lard if you want a healthier version) for the fragrance and a good blender for a smooth texture. My cheapo blender died on me when I tried to blend my first batch of yam that's why my or nee was not as smooth as I wanted it to be. In the end I had to use a fork to mash it up than use my blender for cake to mix the oil and sugar with it and hopefully will help to mash my yam even smoother. Phew, luckily I make it in time for the gathering! Oh and I have left out the pumpkin paste as I can't find any near my place. I think it will taste good if there was some. 

If you have a blender at home, you should try to make or nee if you are a fan of this dessert. It is really not difficult!

(adapted from : http://www.chinese-food-delight.com/yam-paste.html)

Ingredients: (Serves around 15 pax)

1)  1.8kg of yam

2)  A handful of gingko nuts (I use the fresh with shells still intact)

3) 15-20 tablespoons of shallots oil

4) 10 tablespoons of sugar (you can adjust according to your taste)

Steps:

1) Remove the shell, skin and shoots from the gingko nuts. Add the nuts in a small pot of water with some sugar and bring it to boil. Lower the heat and simmer for around 30 min for it to soften and sweeten.

2) Remove the skin of the yam and cut it into cubes. Steam for about 30 minutes or until they turn soft. Mash the yam using a fork, a masher or a blender into a fine paste while it is still hot. Add the sugar and oil to the paste and blend well. (As i am making a lot, I have mash them in 3 batches.)

3) Place the gingko nuts and yam paste (if you are adding pumpkin paste add now too) into a steam tray and steam it on high heat for 30 minutes.

4) Enjoy your or nee when hot!

PS: If you like, you can add in coconut milk when serving the or nee. Or you can add in the coconut milk when blending the paste with the sugar and oil.