Nián gāo, Year cake or Chinese New Year's cake is a food prepared from glutinous rice. It is considered good luck to eat nian gao during this time, because "nian gao" is a homonym for "higher year." The Chinese word 粘 (nián), meaning "sticky", is identical in sound to 年, meaning "year", and the word 糕 (gāo), meaning "cake" is identical in sound to 高, meaning "high". As such, eating nian gao has the symbolism of raising oneself higher in each coming year (年年高升 niánnián gāoshēng). source: wikipedia
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Ingredients:
300gm glutinous rice flour
300gm brown sugar
300ml water
3 tablespoon golden syrup
banana leaves for lining tins
4 round tins (I use sweetened condensed milk)
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Method:
1. Line tins with banana leaves. Secure the lining with strings.
2. Mix glutinous rice flour and water into a smooth paste.
3. Add brown sugar until sugar is dissolved.
4. Pour the paste mixture into the tins, steam in the pot on low heat for 8 hours (8=huat-lah).
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Tips: (i) place a thin cloth on the cover so that the water condensation will not drip into the cakes. (ii) Do it with happy heart and smiling face, so the nian gao is nice and sweet.
Jess, the purple color paper cut attracted me more....he he!
ReplyDeleteNice recipe. Most of the nian kao are commercially produced. This will bring back the CNY feel :D
ReplyDeleteIt is time consuming thou... 8 hours.
ReplyDelete