Nian Gao: Chinese New Year's Rice Cake
Impress your New Year’s Eve guests with these beautiful rice cakes!
Nian Gao is enjoyed year round, but it’s traditionally popular during Chinese New Year. It is believed to bring good luck, because “nian gao” sounds like “year high”. So it symbolizes rising higher in the new year. And fish is popular because it sounds like surplus in Chinese (“yu”). So if you want to rise and shine with an abundance of wealth, then be sure to eat this New Year’s rice cake! ;) The great thing is that it’s beautiful, yet super easy to make!
It’s best to prepare the rice cake the night before you plan to present it.
18 pieces persons
Medium
35 minutes
China
Ingredients
Based on 18 pieces persons
- 200g glutinous rice flour
- 100g low-gluten wheat flour
- 25g rice flour
- 160-180g sugar
- 400ml coconut milk
- 150ml water
- 1 Tbsp corn oil
- Orange and black food coloring
Kitchen tools:
- Fish-shaped molds
- Boil water with sugar and let it cool. In the meantime, put all the flour together in a bowl. Add coconut milk and stir well. Add the cooled sugar water and oil to the flour mixture. Put a small portion of the batter in another bowl and add a little bit of orange food coloring.
- Grease the mold with some oil. Drizzle the parts you want to be orange with the orange food coloring. Fill the “eyes” of the fish with the black food coloring. Steam it for 3 minutes. Add the batter and steam it for 30 minutes on high heat. Note: do not let the mold come into direct contact with metal. It is better to use a water bath for steaming.
- Repeat this process until all the batter is used up. Do not use the mold to steam for hours. Stick to the 30-minute limit and then let the mold cool. Let the rice cake cool in the mold overnight at room temperature. Do not store it in the refrigerator, because then the fish may show cracks.
- Remove the fish from the mold the next day. Starting with the tail, support it and carefully remove the rest of the body from the mold. Place the fish directly on the serving plate. If you move it from plate to plate, the fish will tear.