Fancy Nian Gao

I am finally getting down to catch up on the backlogs - hope I post all the new year goodies before the 15th day of new year!

This is the first time I make a nian gao. In the process of searching for a recipe, I realised that the less I know, the better it would. You see, there are recipe that needs coconut milk, some don't. Some needs wheat starch while others need tapioca flour, some uses a combination of both.... and the differences just go on...

In the end, the exasperated me pick up the simplest recipe which uses neither coconut milk, wheat starch nor tapioca flour.

The results?

You see the fish on the left that had cropped tail; I had much hard time trying to unmould the fish. The tail was left in the mould.

I then use the more complicated recipe which I pick up from a local food magazine. Then I got the nicer fish on the right.

I put my nian gao out on the table as part of CNY decor - it turned moldy within days. So if you are making these for consumption, do store in fridge and finish up with 5 days (or less).

Usually, the nian gao can be deepfried with flour batter, or sandwiched with yam & sweet potato slice before dipping into flour batter and fry. My mom sliced & steamed them until it becomes soft and gooey, then coat nian gao with grated coconut. Nice.

For me, I eat them plainly. Just leave at room temp until it lose the chill, and become softer. Slice and eat.

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Fancy Nian Gao
Recipe from Gourmet Living Feb/Mar 2008

600g rice flour
600g wheat flour
1.2kg glutinous rice flour
2.4kg castor sugar
1 can coconut cream (370ml)
1 can condense milk (150ml)
200g oil
2.4kg water
few drops of orange and/or red food colouring

Method:

1. boil 1.2kg sugar in water till dissolve. set aside to cool.
2. sieve all 3 flours together. pour in sugar syrup (from step 1). Mix well.
3. add remaining sugar. Mix well
4. add condensed milk, oil and coconut cream. mix well
5. put small portion of batter each into 2 separate bowl. add colouring.
6. pour mixture in mould and steam for 2 hours. (My mould is small - I only steam for 45min).
   

Note:
I used 1/6 of the above portion.