Nián Gāo

Can you imagine it is already the last day of the Chinese New Year (CNY), and I have not updated my blog with a single entry.  I have been baking sporadically but too busy (and when I’m not busy, too lazy) to write.  Anyway, in the spirit of CNY (and before it ends at midnight today), I should at least blog about something traditional or CNY-related.

Nián gāo (or literally, Year cake) is a sticky cake prepared from glutinous rice and consumed in Chinese cuisine.  According to Wikipedia, it is good luck to eat nián gāo during the CNY, because "nian gao" is a homonym for "higher year." The Chinese word 粘 (nián), meaning "sticky", is identical in sound to 年, meaning "year", and the word 糕 (gāo), meaning "cake" is identical in sound to 高, meaning "high".  As such, eating nián gāo has the symbolism of raising oneself higher in each coming year (年年高升 niánnián gāoshēng).  In my opinion ? Boring.  I much prefer the legendary tale of the nián gāo involving the Kitchen God. 

You see, according to legend, one week before CNY, the Kitchen God returns to heaven to report on a family's behavior during the previous year. A negative report by the Kitchen God means a family will suffer from bad luck during the year to come.  In order to ensure a favorable report from the Kitchen God, the custom evolved of feeding him sticky cake i.e. the nián gāo.  This was either a bribe, or simply a means of ensuring the Kitchen God’s mouth was too full of cake to pass on an unfavorable report.  Smart huh ?  One can always trust the Chinese to devise such a cunning plan. 

Naturally after each CNY, we would have leftovers nián gāo.  The common way to eat nián gāo here in Malaysia is to sandwich it between slices of yam and sweet potato and to have it deep fried.  However, my all-time favourite is simply to steam it and eat it warm with freshly grated coconut.  It is definitely lighter on the calories, and easier to prepare too !

All you have to do is to cut the nián gāo into small pieces, steam it until soft (about 10 minutes), and toss it with freshly grated coconut.  Oh yes, do add some salt into the grated coconut - the contrast of sweet and salty is divine.