Hakka Dish - Wu Lon Ban (Taro Beads)

My MOM made this Hakka dish during the Chinese new year. She called it, Wu Lon Ban. Basically, it's a taro paste combine tapioca flour. And she stir-fried it with mushroom, dried shrimps, ground pork, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and fish sauce. I have been eating this since I was a little girl, but I just never bother to learn how to make it.


If you like taro like myself, you really should try to make this dish. I am sure you will like it. Of course, I garnished mine with scallions and black pepper.




I just finished stir-fried this platter. It's very flavorful and so yummy.

Ingredients:

1 lb taro, cleaned, peeled and thinly sliced

12 ozs tapioca starch

3 tbsp olive oil

5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

1/4 cup dried shrimp, soak and coarsely chopped

6 dried Chinese mushroom, soaked till soft and sliced

1/2 lb ground pork

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp oyster sauce

1/2 cup chicken stock

scallion or cilantro for garnish

Method:
1. Steam taro until soft and mash.

2. Place the tapioca starch in a large mixing bowl and add hot taro paste to it, stirring it in well

3. When the taro and starch mixture has cooled , knead it to form a dough.

4. Pinch off enough dough to roll into long slender log about 1 inch thick.

5. Repeat until dough is used up.

6. Fill a pot with water to the three-quarter mark and bring it to a boil.

7. Place the taro logs the pot and cook, stirring occasionally to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Take the cooked taro logs out and leave them aside to drain.

8. Cut the logs into smaller pieces.

9. In a hot wok, add 2tsp of olive oil and fry the garlic till golden brown before adding dried shrimp, shredded dried squid and mushroom. Stir fry the mixture , then set aside.

10. Add the remaining tbsp oil to the hot wok and fry the ground pork until it is cooked and no more pink.

11. Add in the cooked garlic, dried shrimp, shredded dried squid, mushroom, abacus seeds and the seasonings.

12. Add in soy sauce, oyster sauce, and fish sauce, pepper.

13. Dish out and sprinkle with sesame oil.

Serve hot.