Nian Gou

Timothy's first request when he met my parents at the airport was to eat nian gou (sticky rice cake). So last Wednesday, the kids stayed home and work on steaming nian gou with Ah Gong and Ah Ma.

They knead the rice flour and sugar together to form a thick dough and leave it to set for a couple of hours. Good morning exercise...

The dough is then scooped into tins like this and Tricia is here to weigh each and every tin. Maths lesson on Measurement, reading the weighing scale!

12 tins of nian gou placed into a giant size wok. to be steamed for 4 hours.

The kitchen became an oven that evening...

And the hard work paid off... deliciously sweet home-made nian gou to be enjoyed for weeks ahead!

My family enjoy these dessert on its own while it's still fresh for a few days. After that, Ah Ma will pan fry these nian gou with a flour and egg batter. The best is the one which is panfried with thin slices of yam. Nian gou sliced thinly and sandwiched between 2 slices of yam, dipped into the batter and panfried till golden brown.... This used to be my breakfast during the weeks after Chinese New Year when I was growing up. No wonder I can hardly keep slim.