Nian gao is not just for Chinese New Year. It makes great party finger food too. Every year the mother will buy several sweet nian gao and freeze them for later use. High in sugar content, the glutinous rice cake keeps well. Whenever there is a casual get together, she will fry up a big batch of nian gao with sweet potato or yam. Crispy with a sticky gooey filling, I will be pinching the hot slices right off the fryer and eating them at the risk of burning my mouth.
Deep Fried Nian Gao (New Year Rice Cake) With Sweet Potato
Ingredients:
For every 100g nian gao -
50g flour
1 egg
a pinch baking powder
50ml water
1 tsp oil
sweet potato (optional)
oil for deep frying
Method:
Cut the nain gao into ½ cm slices.
Using a mandoline or a vegetable slicer, cut the sweet potato into wafer thin slices. Soak in ice water for about 10 minutes. Remove from water and pat dry with paper towel.
Mix flour, egg, baking powder, water and oil into a smooth batter.
Heat oil to about 150°C
Place 1 piece of nian gao between 2 slices of sweet potato. Dip the nian gao sandwich into the batter and fry over medium heat for 1 - 2 minutes until golden. Drain on paper towels.
You are an early bird! to eat those nian gao. Careful not to burn your tongue or it will leave a uncomfortable tingling sensation on the tongue.
Oh, these nian gao looks so crispy on the outside, and soft and warm in the inside...
Posted by: tigerfish | January 24, 2007 at 11:14 AM
yummy yummy...i love this! reminds me of my mom who used to fried it for us. i can't find nian gao in america though, too bad, isn't it?
Posted by: eliza | February 01, 2007 at 06:38 AM
looks wonderfully sinful and delectable!
Posted by: shaz | February 07, 2007 at 08:28 PM
i am sure you know this, but making your own nian gao is super easy. just sticky rice powder and whatever flavor you fancy. i often do red bean, sesame and the ever-so-easy brown sugar!!
Posted by: pewter17 | November 10, 2007 at 12:44 PM
i am sure you know this, but making your own nian gao is super easy. just sticky rice powder and whatever flavor you fancy. i often do red bean, sesame and the ever-so-easy brown sugar!!
Posted by: pewter17 | November 10, 2007 at 12:45 PM
cool! nv see people eat nian gao as finger food one : )
Posted by: ladyironchef | January 24, 2008 at 02:22 PM
Your picture looks great... can't wait to try your recipe this weekend... maybe you can share more recipes with the members of recipebuddys.com ... we are searching for great Asian recipes... Hope you can help us..thanks
Andy
Posted by: andy abraham | October 17, 2008 at 10:06 PM
oh!!my favourite snack!! but I love sandwich with taro and sweet potatoes!! yummy!!
Posted by: beachloverkitchen | December 22, 2008 at 12:15 PM
Thank you for this recipe, I will try it today :D
Can I ask what is the reason for soaking the sweet potato in ice water?
Posted by: Jenny | February 06, 2009 at 09:01 PM
Soaking is to get rid of some of the starch so that the sweet potato will crisp a bit more.
Posted by: Shirley | February 08, 2009 at 10:28 PM
Many thanks for the recipe, I really love Nian Gao.
Posted by: toThai | March 08, 2009 at 12:27 PM
I found your food blog going through a few links. Glad I ran into it. Didn’t know that the food blog/recipe community was so big online. I love your posts!
I was wondering if you would like to exchange links. I’ll drop yours on my site and you drop mine on yours. Email at ramendays@yahoo.com or stop by my site and drop a comment. Let me know if you would like to do a link exchange.
Cheers,
Caleb
http://www.ramendays.com
Posted by: Caleb | July 13, 2009 at 06:10 AM