Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Steamed Nian Gao (年糕)


This is again something new for me this year.  I always did the baked Nian Gao like all the previous years.  The baked nian gao is delicious too but this year I stumbled upon a Vietnamese steamed nian gao recipe from a blogger friend.  I tried a few of his recipes before and liked it, so it encouraged me to give this recipe a try.  Truthfully, what got me interested was the steaming time in his was only 20 minutes for a rice bowl size.  Hey, you know me, always seek out the easiest recipe to try.

I used my porcelain ramekin to steam my nian gao as I believed this shape resembled the one that I was familiar with the most.  Looks good right?  I won't be eating this until after the Chinese New Year as I wanted to use this to bring good luck to my house.  I heard that since this is sticky, it means family reunion and togetherness.  Also of the Chinese word 年糕, the last word sounded like high (高), so it's like each year is higher or better than the previous. (年年高升)

Since I am not eating this yet so I have no comment regarding the taste.  Probably will do a post later when I slice it and pan-fry it.

This is how it looks like when I took it out of the ramekin to cool on wire rack.

Happy Chinese Lunar New Year and Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!!  May this new year brings you much joy, good health and abundance wealth.  祝您 兔年快乐, 健康良好,  万事如意,恭喜发财!!!

P/s:  I recommend my new and improved super easy steamed nian gao recipe that I created in 2012.  Check it out!  :)



 
Recipe adapted from TT, Playing with My Food.  Thanks TT!

~Yields 3 porcelain ramekins.

Ingredients:

  • 400gm glutinous rice flour
  • 300gm Chinese brown slab sugar
  • 220gm Coconut cream
  • 155gm water


Method:

1.  In a saucepan, boil water and brown slab sugar until the sugar melted.  Take it off heat and stir in the coconut cream.  Leave to cool.

2.  While waiting for it to cool.  Cut the parchment paper to fit in the steaming cup that you prepared.  I used porcelain ramekins.

3.  When cooled, add in the glutinous rice flour and mix into a thick batter.  Scoop batter into each ramekin evenly.

4.  Steam in high heat for 60 minutes or until cooked.

5.  Let it cool on wire rack.  Stamp with a good luck symbol if you have one.  If not, just do it like me, take a red packet with good luck symbol, cut it out and place it on the nian gao when it is still warm.


38 comments:

tracieMoo said...

wow, seriously just 20mins?? I thought they would steam for hours!
Gong Xi Fa Cai to you too. Have a great bunny year! :)

Ju (The Little Teochew) said...

Wishing you & your family a very happy & prosperous Year of the Rabbit!

tigerfish said...

Seems easy to make but I do not have glutinous rice flour leh....

Tu Nian Kuai Le, Wan Shi Ru Yi :)

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year to you! I wish you the most joy, happiness and prosperity! And deepest thanks for all your recipes. I never baked Chinese New Year cookies before. Every recipe of yours has turned out so good, although I need more practice in forming some of them. If I can find my wok steamer rack this one is next! (and now I know what I can do with the extra red bean paste I made) Kate

Belinda @zomppa said...

So pretty! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unknown said...

a prosperous and a happy chinese new year

Food Frenzy said...

Looks wonderful. Can't imagine it not tasting good. Enjoy when the time comes.

ICook4Fun said...

Wishing you and your family Gong Xi Fatt Cai and may the year of Rabbit brings you health, wealth, peace and hapinness. Great idea steaming it with ramekins. By the way do you have problem peeling the parchment paper from the Nian Gao? Normally people use banana leaves :)

daphne said...

That looks perfect!! and i learned that one can use coconut milk in nien gao!

Wishing you and your family a prosperous New Year filled with love and lots of good things!!!

BlurMommy said...

Gong Xi Fatt Chai, Wan Shi Ru Yi, Nian Nian You Yu!!!

Love the red packet decoration idea. I'm going to find one to put on mine too. :)

Unknown said...

xin nian kuai le, shen ti jian kang, gong xi fa cai! (omg, excuse my rubbish pinyin please)

My Asian Kitchen said...

I also steamed nian gao using palm sugar ..Hmmm...maybe next time I will use ramekin ..look good in it!! Gong Xi Fa Cai to you and family!!

Anonymous said...

Hi I checked out your baked nian gao. You might like to replace the milk with coconut milk. I have been using coconut milk for my baked nian gao and they are really nice. Has the "kueh" flavour.

Little Corner of Mine said...

Yeah Tracie, me too but with ramekin it steamed for 1 hour.

Thanks Ju.

It is easy to make Tigerfish, go buy some glutinous rice flour lah!

Happy CNY to you too Kate and thanks for your feedback. :)

Thanks Belinda, you too!

Thanks Lily.

Thanks Food Frenzy. :)

Gert, I had problem peeling it off with banana leaves but no problem with parchment paper at all. It just peeled right off. Guess it didn't have part that cut into the nian gao when steaming. :)

Thanks Daphne.

Thanks Blurmommy. Yup, more festive looking! :)

Haha, no lah Rita, I got it. Thanks!

Thanks Lesley. I'm going to try it with Gula Melaka next year.

Thanks Anon, I realized that too but I wanted it to be healthier (less saturated fat) so I used low fat milk instead. :P

pigpigscorner said...

Happy Chinese New Year! Gong Xi Gong Xi!

Big Boys Oven said...

Gong Hei! Gong hei! I sure want to do this soon! awesome!

Unknown said...

Ohhh this looks great.

Noob Cook said...

happy Chinese New Year, bu bu gao sheng!

a frog in the cottage said...

yum !! that looks great to me !!

barca96 said...

Hi, where can I get nian gao after CNY period?
Non-chinese here.

Many thanks in advance.

Little Corner of Mine said...

Barca, I don't think you can get any nian gao after CNY. The only way is to make it yourself.

Min {Honest Vanilla} said...

Hi! Just want to let you know that I'm linking this recipe of yours to my post. Thanks for the recipe :)

http://www.honestvanilla.com/2011/03/sweet-sticky-rice-cake.html

Anonymous said...

Hi can you please let me know how was the outcome of the taste and texture? thank you

Little Corner of Mine said...

Hi Anon, my review was posted here:
http://belachan2.blogspot.com/2011/02/fried-nian-gao-and-sweet-potatoes-with.html

Elsie Hui said...

I love this stuff! :) thanks for sharing!!!

Food Frenzy said...

Congratulations! We wanted to inform you that this post has been selected as the Archive Featured Post of the week on Food Frenzy. We chose it in celebration of the Chinese New Year.

http://blogstew.net/foodfrenzy

Anonymous said...

Looks great! May I know how did you line the ramskins? Did you line the bottom as well?

Little Corner of Mine said...

Anon, I cut a circle and line the bottom and then cut a strip and try to circle the side. But it's easier just to oil the side. This recipe is better http://belachan2.blogspot.com/2012/01/super-easy-steamed-nian-gao-ti-koy.html

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your advice. I like your idea of using red packet and place it on the top of the nian gao when it's warm. It's great!It's a pity that I didn't see your blog until after CNY...otherwise I would have tried your method....btw, is it difficult for your to remove the red packet, before eating?

Little Corner of Mine said...

Anon, if I remembered it correctly, it was easy to remove but some part might stick a little. But no worry, just slice that part away with a knife would do.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

How to store the nian gao after steaming?

If i intend to keep it longer?

Little Corner of Mine said...

Anon, let it cool completely. And then wrap it with a cling wrap and put it in the refrigerator.

Food Friends said...

Really I must Say what a creative recipe.

Food Friends said...

Really cool recipe

Sarika said...

really nice recipes

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yeong.yasmin@gmail.com said...

Hi happy new year. I luve all your recipes and have tried out some n they were successful. Now as for the nien gao, using parchment paper,is it hard to remove it ?

Little Corner of Mine said...

Hi Yeong,
Thank you for your feedback and loved to know that you loved my recipe. :) Yes, or you can oil the bowl nicely.