Sticky Cake Nian Gao Recipes

NIAN GAO (BAKED STICKY RICE CAKE WITH RED BEAN PASTE)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven and prepare baking dish: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
• Whisk together flour, sugars, and salt: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt. If the brown sugar is clumpy, use your fingers to break it up.
• Combine the wet ingredients: In a separate bowl or 8-cup liquid measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, milk, and oil until fully combined. I tend to use a large liquid measuring cup since I need to measure out the milk and oil and it allows me to pour it out into the batter easily.
• Cool cake on wire rack: Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely in the pan. Let it rest for at least 4 hours. It's very sticky and gooey if you cut it while it's still hot. The longer it rests, the easier it is to handle.

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!

STICKY CAKE (NIAN GAO)

Steps:

• Prepare the wok for steaming.
• In a bowl, mix the boiling water and the sugar, stirring to dissolve.
• Cool. Soak the Chinese dates in hot water for at least 30 minutes to soften. (You can also
• soften them quickly by placing them in a bowl with water and microwaving on high heat for
• 30 seconds). Cut the dates in half and remove the pits.
• Place the glutinous rice flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and stir in the sugar and water mixture. Add the milk and begin shaping the dough. Add 1 tablespoon of
• water to the dough at a time, until you have a smooth dough with a satiny texture. Incorporate 1/2 - 3/4 of the Chinese dates, nuts or other dried fruit as you are adding water and working with the dough.
• Grease a 7-inch square cake pan with vegetable oil or a non-stick cooking spray. Place the dough in the cake pan and spread it out to the edges. Decorate with the remaining
• dates, lightly pushing them into the dough. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on top.
• Steam the cake over medium-high to high heat for 45 minutes, or until the edges of the cake pull away from the pan. Remove the cake from the heat and cool.
• Use a knife to loosen the edges, then remove the cake. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate overnight.
• To serve: Cut the cake into quarters, and then into thin slices 2 - 3 inches long and 1/4-inch wide. You can serve the cake as is, or reheat it in the microwave (the amount of time will depend on the size and power of your microwave - start with 10 seconds and then microwave an extra 5 seconds if needed) or re-steam it for 4 - 5 minutes.
• You can also pan-fry the cake, dipping the cake slices in an egg wash before frying. Use a small amount of oil so that the cake will not taste oily. Heat the oil on medium-high to high heat, then turn the heat down to medium and brown the cake slices briefly on both sides.

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.