Nian Gao

Its the Lunar New Year soon! One must have on Lunar New Year is the Nian Gao, or the Glutinous Rice Cake. Nian means 'year or sticky' and Gao means 'high or tall'. The Chinese believe that if you eat the Nian Gao during this time, you will have a better year ahead.

Some believe that this Lunar New Year sweet sticky snack is an offering to the Kitchen God, with the aim that his mouth will be stuck with the sticky cake, so that he cannot bad mouth the human family in front of the Jade Emperor.

So, instead of buying one this year, why not make it and share this goodness with your family and friends and let us all have a great lunar new year ahead!

Ingredients:

500 g Water
500 g Glutinous Rice Flour
100 g Brown Sugar
100 g Raw Sugar
250 g Golden Syrup

Method:

	Cover	Time	Temp°C	Speed
1)  Line a container (I use 8 inch diameter by 2.5 inch depth) with banana leaves.	-	-	-	-
2)  Add water, brown sugar, raw sugar and golden syrup to mix. While machine is mixing, gradually add in the glutinous rice flour from the top of the lid.	-	1 min	-	4
3)  Cook the mixture.	Yes	15 mins	100	3
4)  Pour the mixture into the container with banana leaves. Add 1.2L of water in the Thermomix bowl and steam the mixture on varoma tray.	-	60 mins	Varoma	2

Note: If you are using a container of deeper depth, steam the mixture longer.
You can create a 'cap' using baking paper and put it on top of the nian gao. This is to prevent the steam water from dropping down onto your nian gao. If water touches your nian gao, the part affected will be more pale in colour.