Nian Gao

Typically eaten during Chinese New Year, Nian Gao is a traditional Chinese New Year's cake that is believed to give one good luck when eaten during the time of the first new moon of the year. It symbolizes raising oneself higher as each year passes. Usually, it would be made several days before the new year to be left to dry and harden until it becomes rock solid. As a tradition, the cake cannot be eaten or cut before Chinese New Years, but I would never be able to wait that long, so my mom would allow me to eat it a day before since we all secretly know that she wants to eat it as well. Although it is tasty, no one wants to eat it rock solid, so we would either pan fry it after cutting it into pound cake slices, steam it again, or microwave the slices to make it chewy and soft again.

Translation:

Nian Gao is a crucial part of the Chinese New Year. It signifies growth and being a better version of yourself with the passing of each year. This would apply to income, status, and intelligence. In order to make Nian Gao, you would need glutinous rice flour, brown sugar bars or brown sugar, water, a little bit of oil, and once piece of dried jujube. First, melt the brown sugar bar in water under low heat to create a syrup. Then wait for the syrup to cool down. Pour half of the syrup into the glutinous rice flour and knead it until a soft dough is formed. Continue to knead it for 15 minutes to make the dough more elastic. Then pour the remaining of the syrup on the dough and use a spatula to combine the two into a thick batter. Incorporate the oil into the mixture until it is thoroughly combined. After that, use a mesh strainer to get rid of any lumps in the batter before pouring it into a 7-inch diameter pan. Cover the pan with saran in order to prevent condensation from getting on the nian gao. Under high heat, steam it for one hour. You know that it is ready when you poke it with a chopstick and nothing sticks to it. Once it is fully cooked, you can put the dried jujube in the middle of the nian gao. Leave it to cool and it is ready to be cut and served.