rachel_loaf

Let's Work Together

Kitchen Essentials

This sweet, sticky rice cake is traditionally served on Chinese New Year as an end to the meal. The most ubiquitous flavor of this dish is plain, flavored with molasses, but I've made my own versions to make it more exciting (I hated how plain it was as a kid). After steaming the rice cake, it's common in Cantonese households to pan fry slices to crisp them up, resulting in the best mix of hot, crunchy, and chewy. The bonus is that Chinese superstition says that this dish is supposed to make you grow taller and bring you prosperity.

Lunar New Year Sticky Rice Cake 3 Ways ("Neen Goh"/"Nian Gao")

Add about half the water to a small pot along with the brown sugar, molasses, oil, and salt. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar dissolves — this should only take a couple of minutes. Transfer to a medium sized bowl and add the remaining water to cool the mixture down. Set aside.

In a small pan over medium heat, toast the coconut until just starting to brown, then quickly transfer to a plate and let cool.

Toast the peanuts the same way as the coconut (in the same, unwashed pan) and set aside to cool.

Add the glutinous rice flour and rice flour to the bowl of a food processor and blitz for a couple seconds to combine. Add the coconut and blitz for another couple of seconds until the coconut pieces are the size of large grains of sand, then add the peanuts and pulse one more time until the peanut pieces are the size of large grains of sand.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir together. The mixture will loosen up as you mix. The batter should be a touch thicker than maple syrup — add additional cool water 1 Tbsp at a time until you achieve this consistency. When in doubt, err towards making the batter thinner rather than thicker.

Grease an 8” circular cake pan well and add the batter.

Steam over medium low heat in a steamer for 45 minutes. To test if the rice cake is done steaming, use a toothpick and poke the middle of a cake like you would a baked cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, it’s done.

Remove the rice cake from the steamer and let cool to room temperature, then you can either cover and refrigerate until ready to use, or slice into strips and fry in some neutral oil until the outside is crispy. If refrigerating the neen goh, you can cut and fry the strips directly from the fridge and they’ll soften up.

Add about half the water to a small pot along with the sugar, oil, and salt. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar dissolves — this should only take a couple of minutes. Transfer to a medium sized bowl and add the remaining water to cool the mixture down. Set aside.

In a small pan over medium heat, toast the black sesame until just starting to brown, then quickly transfer to a plate and let cool.

Add the glutinous rice flour and rice flour to the bowl of a food processor and blitz for a couple seconds to combine. Add the black sesame and continue to process until the sesame seeds are nearly as fine as the flour with a uniform texture. You can also add about 1/4 tsp activated charcoal powder during this step if you prefer a deeper black color.

Add about half the coconut milk to a small pot along with the sugar, oil, and salt. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar dissolves — this should only take a couple of minutes. Transfer to a medium sized bowl and add the remaining coconut milk to cool the mixture down. Stir in the pandan extract and set aside.

Add the glutinous rice flour and rice flour to a small bowl and whisk to combine.

Grease an 8” circular cake pan well and add the batter. Top with sweet corn if desired.