Thai Tea Nian Gao

Chinese New Year is around the corner and its easily one of the most tradition filled and food filled holidays of the year for many Chinese. I’ve already posted a recipe earlier this month for a twist on one traditional dessert, but there’s just so many good foods around this time of the year that I had to go and create another!

This time around I ended up making a thai tea nian gao!

Nian gao is basically like a thick slab of steamed mochi. It’s incredibly easy to make, only requiring maybe 3-4 ingredients, but what’s daunting is the cook time. You need to steam the nian gao for about an hour, constantly making sure that the pot you’re steaming with doesn’t run out of water throughout the cook process in order to avoid burning it.

What you’re rewarded with is a wonderfully chewy and slightly sweet treat that is addictive to snack on. Most of the traditional nian gaos that I’ve seen are usually brown sugar flavored, so I added my own twist on this classic sweet by incorporating thai tea! This nian gao is wonderfully fragrant and has a beautiful orange hue to it 😀

While its fine to eat nian gao as is, fresh from the steamer or microwave/resteamed later on, many enjoy nian gao in another form, pan fried. In order to pan fry the nian gao you have to let it harden a bit overnight in the fridge. Then coat it in a light egg batter and then pan fry on each side until golden brown. You’re rewarded with a treat that is both crispy on the outside, but soft and chewy on the inside!

Thai Tea Nian Gao

ryanllee FacebookTweetPin Chinese New Year is around the corner and its easily one of the most tradition filled and food filled holidays of… Desserts Thai Tea Nian Gao European Print This

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 75 minutes 75 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 4.3/5

( 3 voted )

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups glutinous rice flour
• 1 cup rice flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups water
• 5 tbsp Thai Tea leaves (<- this brand of thai tea is one that I've seen been used all over Asia and is soooo good!)
• 1 tsp oil

Instructions

1. In a small pot, add the water and sugar and bring to a light boil
2. Add in the thai tea leaves, remove from heat, and then cover with a lid
3. Allow to steep for 15 minutes
4. In a medium bowl, add the rice flour and glutinous rice flour and mix together
5. Strain out the thai tea leaves from the liquid and pour the liquid into the rice flour mixture
6. Mix until the batter is thoroughly combined
7. Lightly oil a 9 inch cake pan with the oil and pour the batter into it
8. Steam the nian gao for ~60-75 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean

Pan Fry

1. Allow the nian gao to cool in the fridge for at least a day until it is firm
2. Mix together a tsp of water and 1 egg
3. Lightly coat each piece of nian gao with the batter and pan fry on medium high heat for ~2 minutes on each side
4. Remove and allow to slightly cool, then enjoy!