Quick and Easy Nian Gao Recipe and Tutorial

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Ayden’s school gave their students an assignment. The assignment is to record a video of them baking / making any Chinese New Year goodies (cookies / cakes / meals ) with their family member(s).

Obviously we are excited to do that as cooking / baking is our forte. We decided to make Nian Gao using our pressure cooker so that I can also upload it onto our YouTube channel as I haven’t recorded a tutorial for it yet. Killing two birds with one stone here :) 

We had a lot of fun recording this video with the help of Daddy as the video man. 

We need 3 basic ingredients to make nian gao – glutinous rice flour, sugar and water.

Traditional way vs the Modern way

The traditional way of making nian gao is to mix glutinous rice flour, water and sugar and steam it for hours until the sugar is caramelised, resulting in a beautiful golden sticky texture.

The modern way, however, cuts down the steaming time to only 45 minutes in the pressure cooker, as sugar is caramelized before adding flour, hence saving time and energy in steaming it for long.

Before making nian gao, we need to prepare the mould. Clean banana leaves and blanch in boiling water for about 5 minutes to soften it. The leaves are ready when they don’t break when folded. Pat dry and set aside.

Line the mould with the banana leaves. Watch the tutorial video to see how we do it.

Pour batter through strainer.

Pour batter into prepared mould

Important note:

Nian gao will appear pale and soft at the end of cooking time, but that is normal. It will darken and firm up once cooled.

Cool nian gao overnight before unmoulding. Homemade nian gao without preservatives stays fresh for up to a week in room temperature, and up to months if refrigerated.

Watch this video to see:

– how to wrap/line the mould with banana leaves
– how to cook nian gao in just 45 minutes
– how to unmould nian gao

How do you like to eat your nian gao?

My boys love eating it on its own when it is fresh and soft. Darling loves it with shredded coconut while all of us super love it in fried potato balls (watch the attached video for recipe and tutorial).