China Dessert – Nian Gao

For dessert with a Chinese New Year theme, it only seemed right to go for Nian Gao — glutinous rice cake. This dish is usually served at Chinese New Year for good luck. China Highlights has a lot of information on the significance of this cake, as well as the best ways to serve it!

The name “Nian Gao” sounds like the Chinese words for “year” and “high”, symbolising rising fortune each year — so this felt like an appropriate and meaningful dessert to round off our Chinese New Year celebration.

The recipe requires glutinous rice flour (also called sweet rice flour), which gives the cake its distinctive sticky, chewy texture. This is very different to regular rice flour, so it’s worth seeking out the right one!

The flour was combined with brown sugar and water to form a thick batter, which was then poured into a greased tin and steamed until set.

Once cooled, the cake was sliced and pan fried in a little oil until golden and crispy on the outside while remaining deliciously chewy inside. This contrast of textures was a real revelation!

This was a completely new experience for us and one we thoroughly enjoyed — a very different kind of dessert that we’d happily make again. Wishing everyone a prosperous New Year!

Let us know if you give this a go — we’d love to hear from you.