Rice Cake
Tikoy (Nian Gao) – Chinese New Year Cake
Xin Nian Kuaile
12 February marks the start of Chinese New Year for 2021 (It is a movable feast)
With the celebration of the new year goes many costumes and traditions.
Anyway, when it comes to food, the chewier, denser, and sticky the cake the better because it symbolizes close-knit family ties. Sticking together through thick and thin.
Tikoy is so sticky and chewy.
I have to confess that I used to have a love-hate relationship with this cake.
I remember my Grandpa gave me a red box of tikoy. It looked so yummy and I was rather partial, still am, to cake.
So I opened the box and not even bothering with knife and fork or fork and spoon, I bit into the cake.
I was stunned because I almost cracked not only my teeth but my skull. 😜🥵😝
It was so tough, like biting a rock, but why would you bite a rock?
It turned out that the tikoy was only half made. To enjoy it, you have to slice it into bite-size pieces with a machete 🙁
Dip the pieces into a beaten egg and then fry until golden brown on all sides. Then you get the most sticky sweet, plump and chewy heavenly delightful rice cake.
I was thirteen, no one told me how to make tikoy from the box.
After that every time someone offered me tikoy, I looked at them as if they just cursed me.
But when I was in my twenties, my auntie gave me a plate of yummy looking cake. I ate it with gusto and when I asked what it was she said it was tikoy. She then explained the process of softening it.
The recipe I used was from youtube courtesy of someone from the Quezon province.
Ingredients
- 200g Glutinous Rice Flour
- 1 large can of evaporated milk
- 1 regular size/1 cup condense milk
- 1/2 cup grated cheese
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tbsp melted butter
Method
- It is so easy, pour everything in a mixing bowl and stir until you have achieved a pancake batter consistency.
- Start putting your steamer to a boil.
- Divide the cake batter into 2 or 3 greased cake tins.
- Cover the tins with aluminum foil and carefully put them into the steamer.
- Steam for 45 minutes. Set the timer or watch one episode of a Chinese drama, I recommend Go Ahead by the way.
- Remove from the steamer and uncover.
- Set aside to cool.
- Remove from the tins and then slice into long inch wide strips and then wrap them in cling films and leave in the fridge for an even cooler temperature.
- The person in youtube assured her audience that there was no need to heat by dipping in egg and then frying it. She said you can eat it.
- I am still cooling them and have yet to slice. I shall report tomorrow of the outcome.
Will my love and hate relationship with Tikoy be case of loving it forever?