Sweet Potato Rice Cakes with Savory Filling

When Mama Lin visits my house, she often brings homemade snacks, such as dumplings or steamed cakes. One thing that I love are her rice cakes with savory filling. The filling varies based on her mood, but they usually consist of a combination of Chinese sausage (臘腸), Chinese cured pork (臘肉), ground pork, dried seafood, and a crunchy vegetable like jicama.

I wanted to make a variation of my mom’s rice cakes but do something different with the dough. Instead of a plain glutinous rice flour dough, I made it with glutinous rice flour and steamed sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes not only add a lovely color to the cakes but also a subtle sweetness. The trickiest part of this recipe is making the dough and pan-frying the cakes. I’ve provided many tips below so that you can recreate these sweet potato cakes in your kitchen!

I eat these sweet potato rice cakes as a snack and as a side dish for dinner. If you want to make this a meal, they’re great with any of my tofu dishes, air fryer green beans, or even simple roasted asparagus. 

COOKING NOTES FOR SWEET POTATO RICE CAKES

THE FILLING

To simplify things, I’ve chosen 4 main ingredients for the filling: Chinese sausage, dried shrimp, jicama, and scallions. I used the Kam Yen Jan brand of Chinese sausage (affiliate link), which is more widely available (I’ve seen it in Safeway and Costco!). Feel free to use your favorite brand instead. 

In terms of dried shrimp, I used tiny shrimp that are about 1/4-inch wide. I usually find this in the refrigerated sections of Asian grocery stores. Some Chinese grocers, especially ones in a large Chinatown will sell this kind of dried shrimp in bulk. If you can’t find dried shrimp, you can use another half of a Chinese sausage, Chinese preserved vegetables, or diced shallots. 

The jicama provides a light crunch to the filling. If you’d rather not buy a large jicama for this recipe, you can use another type of vegetable, like carrots or bell peppers. Even better, you can use fresh water chestnuts!

USE GLUTINOUS RICE FLOUR

You must use glutinous rice flour for the dough. I use Erawan brand’s glutinous rice flour (from Thailand), which comes in see-through plastic bags with a green label. You can find the flour in Asian grocery stores or on Amazon.

Do not use regular rice flour, as the dough will not become pliable. Avoid the rice flour that comes in the bag with a red label. 

Although glutinous rice flour and sweet rice flour (like mochiko) have similar qualities, I don’t think you can make a 1-for-1 substitution in this recipe. First of all, the texture and weight of these flours are different. Moreover, because this dough is made with very little water, a dough made with mochiko (or similar sweet rice flour) will not be malleable enough.

MAKE THE DOUGH WITH HOT SWEET POTATOES

Typically, I mix glutinous rice flour with boiling hot water to develop a stretchy dough. For this recipe, I used hot, just-steamed sweet potatoes instead of hot water. The heat from the sweet potatoes will yield a dough that’s malleable enough to wrap around a filling. Do not make this dough cooked sweet potatoes that are cold.

PAN FRY CAKES ON MEDIUM-LOW HEAT

Do not try to speed up the cooking process by cooking the cakes on high heat. Because the dough contains a good amount of sugar, the cakes will burn before they’re fully cooked on high heat. I like to cook the cakes on medium-low heat for about 8 to 10 minutes, flipping them occasionally. If you notice that the cakes turn deep brown within a minute or two, the heat is too high. 

HOW TO TELL IF THE RICE CAKES ARE FULLY COOKED

Usually, when we pan fry foods, we look at the level of browning to assess whether or not the food is done. For this sweet potato rice cake recipe, we need to rely on more visual cues. Since the 2 flat sides of the cakes come in contact with the pan most of the time, they’ll become cooked first. The sides, on the other hand, take a bit longer. Instead of focusing only on the level of browning, pay attention to the side edges of the cake. 

When the dough is still raw, it will look pale orange. Once cooked, the dough takes on a richer orange color. You want to make sure that the edges also turn into a rich orange color before removing them from the pan. Moreover, the cakes will puff out slightly when they’re done. I want to reiterate here that you should cook these cakes on lower heat to ensure even cooking. 

USE A NONSTICK PAN

Because the dough is made with sticky rice flour, it’ll easily stick to a pan that is not nonstick. I recommend using a nonstick skillet or sauté pan, like this 12-inch nonstick pan by All-Clad (affiliate link). 

CAN YOU BAKE THE RICE CAKES?

I don’t think these cakes bake well. I tested a batch and found the cakes way too dry. See the photo above for reference.

CAN YOU DOUBLE THIS RECIPE?

Yes, but you may need to modify the ingredients for the dough. I haven’t tried doubling the recipe yet, but I suspect you don’t need any additional water to make the dough. In other words, the flour, sweet potatoes, runny sugar syrup, and oil should be enough to form the dough. However, have 1 or 2 tablespoons of water on the side and drizzle water if the dough feels dry.

5 from 5 votes

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Servings: 12 cakes

Author: Lisa Lin

Sweet Potato Rice Cakes with Savory Filling

These sweet potato cakes have a delightful chewy mochi-like exterior and a savory filling made of Chinese sausage, dried shrimp, jicama, and scallions. These rice cakes are meant to be a snacking cake, but you can also serve them as a side dish.

You can use any neutral-flavored oil or olive oil for any part of this recipe (filling, dough, or frying). The cakes freeze and reheat quite well (see notes for directions).

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Ingredients

Filling

• 2 tablespoons (14g) baby dried shrimp, (see note 1)
• 1 tablespoon canola, safflower, or olive oil
• 1 Chinese sausage, finely diced (42 to 43g, about 1/3 cup)
• 1/2 cup (60g) finely diced jicama, (see note 2 for substitutions)
• 1/2 cup (35 to 37g) packed finely sliced scallions
• 1/4 teaspoon (1g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt, or use 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons oyster sauce

Dough

• 200 grams glutinous rice flour, (NOT regular rice flour, see note 3)
• 325 grams peeled sweet potato, cut into 1/2-inch slices, (see note 4)
• 2 tablespoons (25g) granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 tablespoons oil for frying cakes

Instructions

Prepare the Filling

• Place dried shrimp in a small bowl. Soak the shrimp with water for about 10 minutes, so that the shrimp can soften slightly. Drain the water.
• In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add the Chinese sausage and dried shrimp for 1 to 2 minutes, until the sausage starts to sizzle and crisp slightly. Next, add the jicama and scallions and cook for another minute or two. Season with salt and oyster sauce. Turn off the heat and transfer the filling to a bowl to cool.
  

Make Dough

• Pour the glutinous rice flour into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
• Place a steaming rack in the center of a large wok or sauté pan (with high sides of at least 3 inches high). Fill the wok or sauté pan with water, until the water reaches just below the top of the steaming rack. Bring the water to boil over high heat.
  
• Arrange the sliced sweet potatoes on a large plate in a single layer, and sprinkle the sugar over the sweet potatoes. Place the sweet potatoes over the steaming rack. Cover the wok or sauté pan with its lid and steam the sweet potatoes for 20 minutes, until very fork tender. Turn off the heat.
  
• Carefully remove the plate of sweet potatoes from the wok. You will want to use oven mitts or a tea towel here, as the plate will be very hot. Immediately scrape the sweet potatoes and any sugar syrup into the bowl with the flour. Do not let the sweet potatoes cool because the heat from the potatoes is critical to forming the dough properly.
• Use a fork to mash the sweet potatoes into the flour. Keep doing this until you get a crumbly orange dough.
  
• Drizzle the water and tablespoon of oil into the bowl. Give everything a quick stir. Then, use your hands to gather the crumbly dough into a cohesive mass. Continue kneading until the dough is an even pale orange color (this will take a few minutes). If the dough is feeling very dry, add another tablespoon of water. The dough should feel damp and slightly tacky but not overly sticky. If it is sticky, add a few tablespoons of glutinous rice flour and work it into the dough.
  

Shape Cakes

• Divide the dough into 12 pieces of about 45 to 48 grams each. Take one piece of dough and roll it into a ball. Flatten the ball slightly with the palms of your hands.
  
• Pinch the edge of the dough all the way around, so that the edge is thinner than the center.
  
• Then use your thumbs to press into the center of the dough and shape it into a bowl shape that is about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.
  
• Place 1 level tablespoon of filling into the center of the dough. Wrap the dough around the filling. I like to use the crook of my hand to gather the edges of the dough together.
  
• Once the opening is relatively small, pinch together the dough to seal the filling. Watch the video below for a more detailed visual of the process. If this is too complicated, wrap the dough around the filling in a way that feels comfortable to you.
  
• Roll the dough into a ball. Then, flatten the dough into a disc of about 2 1/2 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick. Transfer to a large plate or sheet pan. Continue wrapping the remaining pieces of dough around the filling.
  

Cook Cakes

• In a large nonstick pan, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil over medium-low heat. Let the pan heat slowly. Do not try to speed up the process by heating the pan on high heat. You can easily burn the rice cakes that way.
• Working in batches, place the sweet potato cakes onto the pan. Fry one side for about 3 to 4 minutes, until they’re lightly golden before flipping the cakes over. If the cakes turn deep brown well before that time, reduce the heat slightly. Cook the other side for another 3 minutes.
• Keep flipping the cakes around until the edges of the cake are no longer pale orange. They should be a rich orange color. The cakes will also puff up very slightly when they’re done cooking. For reference, I usually cook the cakes for 9 to 10 minutes total.
• Transfer the cooked cakes to the plate. Add another 1/2 tablespoon of oil to the pan and cook the remaining cakes.
• The cakes are best served slightly warm, the day they’re made. The cakes are a bit greasy to touch. Feel free to dab the cakes with a paper towel to absorb excess grease.
  
• Store any leftovers in a container and refrigerate for up to 5 days. To reheat the cakes, pan-fry them on medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. You won’t need to grease the pan, as there should be enough oil in the cakes. You can also bake them at 375ºF (190ºC) for 7 to 8 minutes.

Video

Notes

1. Dried Shrimp: The dried shrimp I used are very small, about 1/4-inch wide. You can find them in Chinese grocers and some Asian grocery stores. You can also use larger shrimp; simply chop the shrimp into smaller pieces. If dried shrimp is very difficult to find, just replace it with another half of Chinese sausage. You can also use finely diced shiitake mushrooms for something with umami flavor.
2. Substitutions for Jicama: If you are fortunate enough to have fresh water chestnuts on hand, this recipe is great with water chestnuts. You can also replace the jicama with diced carrots, bell peppers, or even kohlrabi.
3. Glutinous Rice Flour: I use glutinous rice flour from the Erawan brand (bag with the green label). Don’t use regular rice flour (the bag with the red label). I don’t think the recipe, as written, will work with mochiko either. Volume Measurement: If measuring by volume, you will need 1 2/3 cup + 4 teaspoons glutinous rice flour. When measuring flour with the measuring cup, I used the spoon-and-sweep method.
4. Sweet Potatoes: You’ll want a large orange-flesh sweet potato that’s between 345g to 355g with the skin on (about 12.5 ounces). Don’t use the yellow-flesh sweet potatoes, as they tend to be more dense and dry.
5. Freezing Directions: Freeze the cakes on a baking sheet or plate lined with parchment paper. Once they’re frozen, transfer the cakes to a freezer-safe container. Reheat the frozen cakes by baking them on a sheet pan at 375ºF (190ºC) for 10 to 11 minutes. You do not need to defrost the cakes first.
6. Making Ahead: You can prepare the filling a day ahead, but the dough is best the day it is made.

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Nutrition

Serving: 1cake | Calories: 157kcal | Carbohydrates: 22.1g | Protein: 2.6g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 120mg | Fiber: 1.5g | Sugar: 3.9g

Cuisine: Asian, Chinese

Category: Appetizer, Sides