Nian gao is a Chinese dessert made from glutinous rice, often given as a lucky gift during Chinese New Year. It can be prepared in various ways and served as an appetizer or dessert. Making it from scratch is a long process, but it is a traditional dish served during the Spring Festival in China.
Nian gao is a popular Chinese dessert that has glutinous rice as its main ingredient. This same ingredient is used to make other famous Chinese sticky rice dishes, such as tang yuan, ba bao fan, and zongzi. Nian gao is also known as Chinese New Year cake. In English, the words literally mean “higher year,” implying a sense of progress for the upcoming year. It is for this reason that this food is usually given as a lucky gift during Chinese New Year and is similar to wishing good luck and prosperity to others.
There is no official way to prepare or serve nian gao. The final appearance of nian gao pieces may also not be uniform. Nian gao is commonly ground into a paste and formed into cake-like shapes, although some people prefer to mold it into various shapes and sizes. Some manufacturers add artificial flavors and colors to give consumers more choices to choose from.
Making nian gao from scratch is a long and arduous process and takes around 7 hours of steaming. More often than not, consumers are able and prefer to purchase ready-to-cook confections in which they just need to be cut into chunks and fried. In some cases, people may prefer to add eggs and sugar to make the dessert tastier.
The best way to serve this dish will also depend on a person’s culture or country. In Cantonese culture, or in countries like Singapore and Malaysia, as well as Hong Kong, this dessert is served as an appetizer or dessert rather than a main course. This dish can be accompanied by other popular dim sum dishes, such as water chestnut cake, turnip cake, and taro cake. In Japan, a variant of the dessert called mochi is served as a snack throughout the year, not just on New Year’s Eve.
In China, the New Year or Spring Festival is considered the most important occasion of the year, and eating nian gao is just one of the many ways the Chinese celebrate this special event. Nian gao is also called sticky rice cake, which is the traditional Spring Festival dish served in the southern regions of China. Those in the northern region prefer to eat jiao zi instead.
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