Nian Gao (Chinese New Year Glutinous Rice Cake 年糕)
Nian Gao is a traditional and delicious way to welcome the Lunar New Year! Enjoy the soft rice cake fresh or pan fry them for a caramelized coating!
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 1 hr 5 min
- Yield
- 8 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 250 g / 0.55 lb brown sugar slab
- 400 mL / 1.7 US cup water
- 350 g / 0.77 lb glutinous rice flour
- 30 g / 0.07 lb wheat starch
- dried red date ((optional; soaked in water for 10 minutes to rehydrate))
Instructions
- 1
Cook the dark brown sugar slabs and water on medium heat until the sugar has melted. Let it cool until warm.
- 2
Combine the glutinous rice flour and wheat starch in a bowl.
- 3
Pour the sweet syrup into the flour mixture bit by bit while stirring it through. Do this until it's all mixed into a thick but runny batter.
- 4
Lightly oil the surface of your cake tin. We used a 20cm (8") cake tin with a removable base to make to easier to take out.Pro Tip: Keep the oil layer thin so it doesn't make the steamed surface lumpy.Note: When Aunty made it, she used four 15cm (6") round foil trays so she could give them as gifts.
- 5
Use a sieve to hover over the cake tin and pour the batter through. This will help to remove clumps.
- 6
Hold the cake tin and gently tap the base against the counter to force any air bubbles to rise. Use a toothpick to pop the bubbles and smooth out the surface.
- 7
Wrap the top of the cake tin with aluminium foil. Make sure there are no gaps.
- 8
Set your steamer up and steam the batter on high heat for 1 hour or until cooked.
- 9
When ready, take the rice cake out and insert a red date in the middle. You can push the whole date in or halve it and place it on top.
- 10
Slice and serve the Nian Gao immediately as is or lightly pan fry them with egg!