Nian Gao Recipe - Happy Chinese New Year!

Here is my updated Chinese New Year recipe.  After all these years, I think I may have finalized my recipe.  The last change to the recipe is to use BLACK slab sugar rather than brown sugar, and to melt the sugar into a syrup before adding to the flour.  Not only did this improve the taste, but it also improved the color and the overall cooking experience.  I didn’t seem to have any issues at all with puffing or undercooking of the batter.

Ingredients:

2/3c water
4-5 slabs of Chinese black slab sugar
1 can of full fat Chaokoh coconut milk (13.5 oz.)
glutinous rice flour (16 oz.)

1 tsp vanilla extract
coconut oil, 2T, melted and cooled (use the fragrant kind)

You'll also need a steamer (I used my wok) and a heatproof steaming bowl (I used the flat stainless steel Chinese steaming bowls).

Directions:

Bring water to a boil in an medium-sized pot and melt black slab sugar to make a syrup.  Make sure the sugar is completely dissolved.  Remove pot from flame and add can of coconut milk (shake it first!).  Scrape bottom of pot in case sugar crystals remain.  Let syrup mixture cool.  

Once syrup is cool, add 1 tsp vanilla extra and entire bag of glutinous rice flour.  Stir well to combine; make sure all flour is incorporated.  Lastly, add melted coconut oil and mix well.

Grease steaming bowl with coconut oil.  Pour batter into steaming bowl and steam for 1-1.5 hours, checking water levels every 15-30 min.  If gao is starting to puff up, then the flame is too high and the end result will be sticky: turn down the flame to low.  

Remove from steamer after 1-1.5 hrs and let cool on counter.  When cool, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

To serve, remove the nian gao from the container and cut into rectangles.  I like mine thinner, so I slice them to less than 1/2 inch thick, and around 1.5-2 inches long.  Pan fry using coconut oil until golden brown on each side.  I like mine on the verge of burnt :-) Careful not to let the pieces touch each other while pan frying because they will stick together.

This dessert will stay in the fridge for a while, up to 6 months and up to 1 year in the freezer.