Sweet potato mochi cakes with red bean filling

Lunar New Year is one of my favourite times of the year because everywhere I turn I see my favourite things: noodles, dumplings, rice cakes, red bean that and matcha this. This year, I’m sharing something my mum made for us. We call it nan gua bing, which literally translates to pumpkin cakes, but she uses sweet potato instead. Of course, because I’m required by law to do everything in two different ways, I used two types of sweet potato – the ubiquitous orange, and purple yam. I dislike colour dye, so it thrills me when I discover beautiful natural pigments. This sweet potato mochi cake is stuffed with red bean paste and heated up to create a crispy-yet-soft exterior. Now that I’m away from home, I can whip up a batch of these and immediately be transported back to my mum’s kitchen, waiting by the counter for these cakes to finish cooking and stuffing them in my mouth.