Chinese New Year's Cake
(NEEN GOW)

Chinese New Year traditionally runs for 15 days. Today it is usually observed for 3 or 4 days. Friends of mine, Jimmy and Ling Ling Wang, invited me to celebrate each year with them.

This New Year's Cake, is the most important cake eaten on New Year's . The egg-dipped, pan-fried slices have a gentle sweetness and are slightly chewy from glutinous rice flour. 

Brown candy (Peen Tong) is a kind of sugar that is sold by the slab in 1-pound packages and may also available loose in bins in some Chinese markets. The slabs are about 5 inches long, 1 1/4 inches wide, and 1/2 inch thick. Scraping the sugar, the traditional method, is very difficult  so I recommend dissolving the slabs of sugar in water, this may be less authentic but much easier to prepare. Chef Louie, his Chinese name is much more difficult to pronounce for most non-Chinese, always scraped the sugar but he was a highly trained chef. The key here is to be sure to use glutinous rice flour and not a regular rice flour!

Ingredients   

Directions

In a small bowl soak the red dates in 1/4 cup cold water for 30 minutes, or until softened. When softened, remove and discard the pits.

Cut brown candy into small pieces. Place sugar in a bowl and pour 2 cups boiling water over the sugar, set aside until dissolved and cooled.

Grease an  8-inch round casserole dish, 4" deep with 2 teaspoons vegetable oil.

Place the rice flour in a large mixing bowl making a well with the flour. Stir in cold sugar water and knead the dough. Add an additional 1/3 cup cold water to dough until  it's smooth, slightly moist, and shiny, this takes about 10 minutes. Place the dough in the casserole dish and gently press it evenly into the dish .

Cut the dried dates in half and place them cut-side down evenly covering the dough. Coat with the remaining 1 teaspoon oil then sprinkle the top with sesame seeds. 

In a covered steamer, large enough to fit the casserole dish without touching the sides of the steamer, bring water to a boil. Place the dish into the steamer and cover for 35 to 40 minutes. Keep an eye on the water level and replenish when necessary with boiling water only. When the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the casserole dish it's done.

Remove the dish from the steamer and pour off any water on the surface. Place on a rack and let cool, then loosely cover and let set at room temperature for 24 hours.

Run a knife or icing spatula along the cake's edge to loosen from the dish. The icing spatula is flexible enough to loosen the bottom of the cake as well, otherwise, place a plate over the bowl and invert to remove cake. Upright the cake onto a cutting board (or a flat surface if you're not ready to eat it yet and plastic-wrap the cake and refrigerate until ready to eat) and cut the cake in long 2" wide strips. Turn the cake being sure to line up the cut strips horizontally and cut across the cake strips about 3/8" but no wider than 1/2". Batter cake using one large egg and beat until frothy placing pieces of cake into the egg, coating evenly. 

Heat your  wok or skillet over medium heat and add just enough oil to coat the wok.  Cook the egg-coated cake pieces in small batches for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Best when served immediately after cooking.

 Sites of interest on Chinese culture http://www.newton.mec.edu/Angier/DimSum/china__dim_sum__celebratio.html
http://www.chinatown-online.co.uk/pages/new_year/food.html
 

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