New Year Rice Cake

What happened to the fruits - all sank to the bottom.

According to WikiHow :

One popular desert eaten during Chinese New Years is Nian Gao (年糕). One of the reasons it's eaten during this time is because the words "nian gao (粘糕)", meaning "sticky cake," sounds just like the words 年高, which means something along the lines of "growing taller every year." Similar to "a pinch to grow an inch," this is just used to wish the person good health in the new year.
Nian Gao is a sticky rice cake that's usually eaten warm.

My friend, Claire came with the recipe and all the ingredients to try out this cake and we followed the recipe to the tee except i cooked the batter in the microwave until the batter thickened slightly. We should not have mixed in the fruits and nuts before i cook the batter in the microwave, but this step was an after thought, when everything was mixed and ready for the oven. I would suggest, dust the fruits with some of the dry flour, when batter is ready for baking, pour batter on to baking tray, then only sprinkle the fruits and nuts on top - hoping that they will not sink so far down to the bottom.

The crust was quite thick cos i think we overbaked. I used the convection at 375f and the batter was slightly cooked, so it should take a shorter time to bake - should have checked at 40 minutes when the top was nicely browned. Baking at high altitude can be tricky.

Overall, good job, Claire - the cake tasted so much better the next day, the crust has softened and was more chewy.

I will make this cake again and tweak it to my liking.

Below is the recipe which came with Claire

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups glutinous rice flour (sweet rice flour), about 1 pound
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup dried tart cherries
1/4 cup candied pineapple, chopped
1/4 cup chopped pitted dates
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
3 large eggs
Cooking spray

Method:

Preheat oven to 375°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.

Combine flour and next 6 ingredients (flour through baking powder) in a bowl.

Combine water, oil, and eggs; add to flour mixture, stirring by hand just until moist.

Spoon the batter into a 9-inch round cake pan coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 375° for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool rice cake for 15 minutes in pan on a wire rack, and remove from pan.

Cool completely on wire rack.

What should be done:

Serves

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Dodol

Stir dodol in the microwave at 3 minutes interval, stirring vigorously at every interval

Cook and stir, until dodol is shinny and does not stick to your finger when touched.

I have not enjoyed eating a good dodol since my mother-in-law passed away. She made the best ever cos she is very particular about the ingredients used. She would insist that the brown sugar used was not any gula melaka from the store, it must be gula kabung from Kuala Pilah. A whole day of stirring the dodol in a brass wok and a wooden paddle which is as long and large like an oar. Now, with the microwave, there is no need to sweat over a hot stove anymore. A good dodol can be produced in less than an hour.

Ingredients:

(A):
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 lb gula melaka - Chopped
1/2 cup water
1 pandan leaf

(B)

1 cup glutinous rice flour
1 tbsp rice flour
1 can 400 ml coconut cream - Savoy brand

100 ml water

Method:

Combine ingredients A and cook on "high" for five minutes. Stir and cook further if the sugars are not dissolved.

Add ingredients b and stir well. Strain mixture.

Cook on "high" at 3 minutes interval, stirring vigorously at every interval. Continue to cook and stir until mixture thickens, is shinny and does not stick to finger when touched.

Discard the pandan leaf and transfer dodol to a greased clingwrap. Wrap up well.

Serves

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Satay Fish cookies

Satay Fish is a stinky but delicious snack made of barbequed and caramalised fish wafers.

I have a few packets of these satay fish which was sitting at the back of the pantry and when i saw Aunty Yochana made cookies with them, i have found the opportunity to use up the forgotten snack. The cookie is as stinky as expected but i quite like the uniqueness of the flavor. I thought that the dolphin shape was appropriate for the fish ingredient but the tails were too delicate and most of them were dislodged from the body after i stored them.




Ingredients:

1/3 cup Satay fish - pounded (it's a snack ...in small packaging)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

5 tbsp cornflour

2 tbsp rice flour

2 tbsp white sesame seeds

4 tbsp confectioners' sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

7 tbsp oil

.Method:

Mix all together until it becomes a dough.

Roll out dough between 2 plastic sheet it and cut it out with a biscuit cutter and then bake at 325f . Time for baking differs on the thickness of the cookie.

Serves

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