Golden Rice Cakes With Sweet Potato Ginger Sauce Recipes

NIAN GAO (BAKED SWEET POTATO STICKY RICE CAKES)

Steps:

• Combine the glutinous rice flour and ¾ cup/180 grams water in a bowl to form a dough. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 6 hours and up to 24 hours.
• Heat oven to 400 degrees. Wash and scrub the sweet potatoes and pat them dry thoroughly with a clean kitchen towel. With a fork, poke holes all over the sweet potatoes. Bake on a foil-lined pan until a fork can pierce it with no resistance, 40 to 50 minutes.
• When cool enough to handle, peel off the skin. Pass the sweet potato through a ricer or mash with a fork. Measure out 1¼ cups/320 grams of the mashed sweet potato. (Reserve any remaining for another use.)
• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine coconut milk, sugar and salt in a large saucepan. Set the saucepan over medium-low heat, and whisk until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is hot but not boiling, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the butter, stirring until it melts. Mix in the sweet potato mash, followed by the tapioca starch, then add the refrigerated wet glutinous rice flour gradually in chunks, whisking as you go. Add the egg and whisk until smooth.
• Heat 1 or more kuih bahulu pans in the oven until very hot, 7 to 8 minutes. If you don't have a kuih bahulu pan, a decorative cakelet pan or mini muffin tin made out of cast iron or aluminum works (see Tip). The batter yields 24 to 42 nian gao, depending on the size of the hollows; work in batches if needed (see Tip). Remove the pan from the oven and, using a silicone or pastry brush, lightly and quickly brush its hollows with oil. Stir batter, then quickly pour it into the hollows, filling them 80 to 90 percent full.
• Bake on the center rack until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of one emerges moist and sticky, but with no pasty raw batter on it, 20 to 40 minutes. The exact baking time will vary depending on the size and heft of your pan.
• Use a wooden skewer or butter knife to pry out and remove the nian gao from the pan. If the pan was properly heated and oiled, the nian gao will not stick. If needed, repeat with the remaining batter. If the pan cools off too much while you are removing a batch of nian gao, heat it for a couple of minutes in the oven before baking the next batch.
• These nian gao are best served slightly warm while the edges are still crisp and the centres are soft and chewy. They are best the same day they are made. You can keep leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator and steam, pan-fry or microwave them to reheat the next day, but they will not completely recover their freshly cooked texture.

SWEET POTATO AND APPLE LATKES WITH GINGER AND SWEET SPICES

Steps:

• Begin heating a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment and place a rack over another sheet pan.
• Place the grated sweet potatoes in a large bowl. Toss the grated apple with the lime juice and add to the sweet potatoes, along with the ginger, spices, baking powder, salt, oat bran and matzo meal or flour. Taste and adjust salt. Add the beaten eggs and stir together.
• Take a 1/4 cup measuring cup and fill with 2 tablespoons of the mixture. Reverse onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining latke mix. You should have enough to make about 40 latkes.
• Add the oil to the pan and when it is hot (hold your hand a few inches above - you should feel the heat), slide a spatula under one portion of the latke mixture and press down with the spatula to flatten. Repeat with more mounds. In my 10-inch pan I can cook four at a time without crowding; my 12-inch pan will accommodate five or six. Cook on one side until golden brown, about three minutes. Slide the spatula underneath and flip the latkes over. Cook on the other side until golden brown, another two to three minutes. Transfer to the rack set over a baking sheet. Try one latke and if it is still a bit chewy in the middle transfer them to the baking sheet and place in the oven for 10 minutes, until golden brown and soft in the center.
• Serve hot topped with applesauce and low-fat sour cream, thick Greek yogurt or crème fraîche if desired.

GUNGJUNG TTEOKBOKKI (KOREAN ROYAL COURT RICE CAKES)

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, sugar, garlic, black pepper, 2 tablespoons of the scallions and 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Transfer half of the sauce to another small bowl.
• Thinly slice beef crosswise about 1/8-inch-thick, then cut into 2-inch strips. Add beef to one bowl and toss to evenly coat, massaging sauce into beef. Let stand for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine rice cakes and enough lukewarm water to cover by 1 inch. Soak for 10 minutes. Drain, then return the rice cakes to the bowl. Add the remaining sauce and toss to evenly coat.
• In a large skillet, heat safflower oil over medium. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 minutes.
• Add beef with its marinade and cook, stirring, until the beef is no longer pink, about 1 minute. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 minutes. Add bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes.
• Add the rice cakes, their sauce and 1/2 cup water and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and rice cakes are tender and nicely glazed, about 8 minutes. Stir in mung bean sprouts and remaining scallions and sesame oil. Season with salt and pepper.
• Divide tteokbokki among bowls and garnish with sesame seeds. Serve warm.