Nian Gao Chinese New Year Cake 年糕 Recipes

NIAN GAO CHINESE NEW YEAR CAKE

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl, add 1.5 cups of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of wheat starch.
• Then, add 1&1/4 cups of glutinous rice flour, 1/2 cup of coconut milk and 1 cup of water.
• Mix it very well.
• Next, spray some oil and use a brush to brush the oil evenly around the cake pan.
• After that, pour the mixture over the greased cake pan (my cake pan is about 6.5 inches wide) and use a spoon or strainer to remove excess bubbles.
• Pour a cup of water into an instant pot pressure cooker and add a rack.
• Cover the flour mixture with a foil. (Before covering the foil try to mix the mixture again).
• After that, put the flour mixture into the instant pot, close the lid and vent. Push the manual button, adjust the time for 30 minutes at high pressure and naturally release the pressure.
• Put a plate on top of the cooked nian gao. Then, flip it and decorate with a dried jujube in the middle of the cake.
• You can wait until it's cool down then slice it.
• However, it is easier to slice it after refrigerating the Chinese new year sweet rice cake.
• After refrigerating the nian gao, add some oil into a non-stick pan. Then, pan fry both sides for about 1-2 minutes at medium fire. (Some people like to dip the nian gao with eggs and pan fry them.)

CHINESE NEW YEAR SWEET RICE CAKE (NIAN GAO)

Steps:

• Prepare two 8-inch round baking pans by brushing the insides with vegetable oil.
• Add 2 cups of water and the ginger to a medium-sized pot, bring it a boil, then let it simmer for 10 minutes over low to medium heat with the lid covered. Turn off the heat, and stir in the brown sugar and allspice until the sugar is dissolved completely. Remove the ginger slices. Now add 1 1/2 cups of cold water to cool down the mixture so its warm, not hot.
• In a large mixing bowl, mix the two kinds of flours together and then slowly add in the sugar water mixture. Stir thoroughly until the batter is smooth (without any lumps). Now stir in the vanilla extract, molasses, orange zest, and 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil until thoroughly combined. The resulting batter should have a consistency similar to condensed milk. If the batter is too thick, add a bit more water a couple tablespoons at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
• Pour the batter evenly into two foil pans. Gently tap the pans against your countertop to get rid of air bubbles. Top each pan with three decorative dates in the center, if using. Put both pans in a double-decker bamboo steamer and steam for about 1 hour on high heat (the water should be boiling, but should NOT be bubbling high enough to touch the foil pans). You might need to add water into the steamer midway to avoid having the water dry up and burn your bamboo steamers.
• After 1 hour, poke a toothpick into the rice cake. It's done if the toothpick comes out clean--just like a regular cake! Regarding steaming techniques, for this recipe and in general, it doesn't matter what type of vessel you use. The core goal here is to use steam to cook the food, which means it's important that the steam doesn't escape.
• For example, if you use bamboo steamer, you will also need a pot that fits the bamboo steamer perfectly so there is no visible steam escaping. If you don't have a pot that fits the bamboo steamer, you will need to put the bamboo steamer inside a much larger pot with a lid and set the bamboo steamer on a rack above the water. Whatever you decide to use, with the correct set up, you should not see steam escaping!

NIAN GAO (CHINESE NEW YEAR CAKE) 年糕

Steps:

• Oil a 6 inch cake tin to prevent the nian gao from sticking.
• Prepare a steamer large enough to hold the cake tin and start boiling water in preparation for the steaming process.
• In a saucepan, place chopped sugar pieces and water and cook on low-med until sugar has dissolved. Once dissolved, strain this sugar syrup through a sieve in case there are tiny pieces of undissolved sugar. Let the syrup cool to about 50C.
• In a large bowl, sift the glutinous rice flour and rice flour together. Add in veg oil and mix.
• Mix the ginger juice into the sugar syrup and pour it into the flour mix about half a cup at a time, stirring constantly. At first it will seem lumpy but keep stirring and let the flour fully absorb the liquid before adding the next half cup of syrup. Continue adding syrup and stirring until you get a smooth batter4.
• Strain the mixture through a sieve to get rid of any potential flour lumps.
• Pour mixture into the oiled cake tin and tap it on the counter a few times to release air bubbles. Pop any you see on the surface. Cover the tin tightly with foil.
• Place in steam with boiling water and steam for about 60 minutes5.
• Let the nian gao cool, decorate with the signature red date in the center and enjoy the nian gao as you wish!